


the earth is flatter than you think

by wayward_stranger



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: A whole lot of ships, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Flat earthers, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Pining, also a ton of horror movie references, chef!bokuto, college shenanigans, diner owner!bokuto, kageyama hinata and kenma are eating popcorn while everything is going down, kenma and hinata are the only ones who still play pokemon: go, kurotsukki meeting through a flat earther group whats not to like, naruto shippuden: ultimate ninja storm 3 references, non-binary!akaashi, sharknado references, slight angst, slight bokuroo, so there's a bit of one-sided love, that said i apologize in advance if i slip-up with akaashi's pronouns, this may or may not have been inspired by itaewon class so don't @ me, tsukishima is bad with feelings, will add more tags as the crackheaded-ness increases, yamaguchi is trying to get everyone's shit together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 109,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23888764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wayward_stranger/pseuds/wayward_stranger
Summary: When Tsukishima got his wish of seeing his favorite podcast creator in real life, he didn't quite expect that he and his friends (a Sharknado fanatic and two idiots who like volleyball and Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 too much), would team up with even more friends (an Instagram-famous beauty, The Most Wholesome Person on Earth, and a Level 99 Pokemon Trainer) have to put their remaining brain cells together to save another friend's diner from failing.aka. Tsukishima and Kuroo Join a Flat Earth Society Facebook Group and Everything Goes Downhill From There
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou, Hinata Shouyou/Kozume Kenma, Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei, Yachi Hitoka/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 160
Kudos: 309





	1. the extinction of the dinosaurs

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't written Haikyuu fanfic ever since the anime hiatus began and now i'm stuck in quarantine while the president is fucking up everything - a novel by me
> 
> hello everyone!! thanks for checking out this fic. i haven't written in so long and i miss fanfiction so i hope my writing got better. also quarantine sucks and everything is terrible but planning this fic and writing the (very long) first chapter has put a smile on my face so i hope it puts a smile on your faces while reading it :) 
> 
> also i'm so sorry i didn't mean for the first chapter to be this long i have no self-control

“’This page is about ''Flat Earth'' God's creation, and exposing the globe earth. JESUS CHRIST is LORD, accept him today’. Are these people even real?” Kuroo laughed as he read the About section of the Flat Earth Society group on Facebook.

“What are you reading?” Kuroo’s flatmate-slash-boss-slash-best bro, Bokuto Koutarou sat up in his bed curiously. It was half-an-hour until midnight and the two of them were camped out in Bokuto’s room with empty bags of chips and a few cans of beer were strewn around the floor where Kuroo sat with his laptop, his back against the bed.

“Flat Earth stuff,” Kuroo snickered, clicking on what appeared to be the group’s ‘manifesto.’ Only sheer boredom led him to actually searching for Facebook pages created by those who believed that the Earth spun around space like a giant frisbee. Or, maybe not exactly a frisbee, Kuroo found as he read the group’s manifesto out loud for Bokuto. “Listen to this Bo,” Kuroo tugged his friend’s shirt. “The Earth is still. It does not move. The surface of Earth is flat. There is a dome over us called the Firmament. The sun, moon, and stars are under the Firmament dome. There are no planets. It's all right here, folks! We have a creator and we have purpose!” he read aloud, trying to channel his best crack-headed, tinfoil-wearing voice. Bokuto howled with laughter.

“So, it’s like, we’re all in just one big dome? None of the planets that we have _actual photographs of_ exist?”

“It’s quite shocking, but I guess that’s that,” Kuroo sighed and took a drink out of the last of the beer cans. “And we’re not in a giant frisbee spinning around space either.”

“I kind of wished we were living on a frisbee,” Bokuto plucked the beer out of Kuroo’s hand. “Imagine how cool it would be for us to just go ‘whoooooooshhhh’ around space.”

“That does sound a lot more exciting than living on a so-called ‘round Earth’ that takes 365 days to revolve around the sun.” Kuroo scrolled through more of the posts in the Flat Earth page, finding all sorts of linked articles about how NASA was apparently lying to everyone, screenshots of Bible quotes, short documentaries about the government’s schemes to lie to people, as well as dubious diagrams proving the Earth’s ‘flatness.’ Oh, he was going to have _so much_ fun. And he hadn’t even reached the comments section yet.

“This should keep me entertained for a while,” Kuroo grinned and clicked ‘Join’ on the group.

“I thought you were still having fun in that ant group,” Bokuto swung his legs over the bed and began cleaning up what was left of their beer and chips midnight snacktime.

“’A group where we all pretend to be ants in an ant colony’,” Kuroo corrected him, watching Bokuto trying, and failing, to stack the cans successfully. “It was fun but you can only type ‘B I T E’ or ‘L I F T’ so many times before getting tired of it.”

“I won’t,” Bokuto sang, collecting all the beer cans and empty chip bags before dumping them into the trash can in the corner of his room. Kuroo took it as a sign that midnight snacktime had come to an end, and Bokuto would be going to sleep and waking up at some ungodly hour in the morning to run laps around the park while Kuroo would stay up a few hours more.

“Night Bo,” he said, standing by the door as Bokuto crashed into his bed. Kuroo turned off the lights and walked into his own room right across Bokuto’s. For the past two years, both of them lived in the small flat right on top of ‘Bird’s Nest,’ a small diner that they both worked in. Bokuto had worked there ever since he was supposed to start high school and the diner eventually became his after its owner decided to leave the country. Their actual living space was quite small but since the rent was free and came with a good-enough job, Kuroo wouldn’t complain.

“Shit, almost 12 o’clock,” Kuroo cursed, checking the time on his phone. He sat on the floor right by the door where the internet connection was strongest and opened his website. The title of his next podcast episode had already been teased with comments on the post already wildly guessing what the theme of the week was going to be. Kuroo uploaded the episode’s audio file, double-checking beforehand to make sure it was the right episode which was pretty difficult considering how he often named his files ‘Episode 13_Final’, ‘Episode 13_FINAL’, ‘Episode 13_FINAL FINAL DRAFT’, and typed a quick introduction before finally posting it at midnight.

After that, it took a total of one minute for Kuroo to switch off his laptop and jump onto his own bed and opening his Twitter account. The episode he uploaded was the standard 26-minute length that all his episodes were but that didn’t stop him from anticipating his listeners’ reactions just after he posted an episode. Even if their profile pictures or usernames changed, Kuroo could easily spot his listeners who have subscribed to his podcast ever since the first episode that he recorded on his low-quality laptop mic. One listener in particular stood out to Kuroo for their lengthy reviews that went way past the Twitter character count, and for the fact that they always posted at least 27 minutes after Kuroo posted an episode.

…

Fifteen minutes before midnight, when Kuroo clicked ‘Upload’ and posted episode, Tsukishima entered his small apartment after a day of completing assignments and stalked into the living room where two of his roommates played video games on a couch with their homework long-forgotten on the coffee table.

“Which one of you did this?” he glowered at Hinata and Kageyama, his former volleyball teammates from high school and current annoying housemates. Hinata reacted first, jumping slightly in surprise and turning to Tsukishima with a sheepish grin on his face that immediately betrayed his innocence.

“Do… what?”

“THIS,” Tsukishima thrust his phone in their faces. It was opened to the Flat Earth Society Facebook group that Tsukishima had ‘apparently’ joined except for the fact that he was an Archaeology major and someone of sound mind who had seen every evidence possible that the Earth was not, as some people argued, a giant frisbee.

“I told you he would find it, dumbass,” Kageyama said, pressing a series of buttons on his controller and making Kakashi kick Rock Lee’s ass on the screen. Tsukishima rolled his eyes. Kageyama and Hinata, and unfortunately Yamaguchi, still weren’t tired from playing Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3.

“Why didn’t you pause the game!” Hinata cried indignantly.

“You have bigger problems than losing that game,” Tsukishima gritted his teeth. “Now explain why I happen to be in the Flat Earth Society Facebook group of all Facebook groups.”

“’Cause it’s funny!” Hinata grinned. “You basically snark everyone in real life so Kageyama and I just gave you an outlet online to continue it.”

“Hey, I wasn’t part of it!” Kageyama protested.

“You were the one who guessed the password!”

“That doesn’t mean I agreed!”

Watching them bicker back and forth, Tsukishima once-again regretted his decision to share an apartment with the dumbest people in his volleyball team. Sure, he was able to spend less on rent and Hinata’s cooking was shockingly better than everyone’s, but once again Tsukishima wondered if it was worth it having to find himself in weird Facebook groups that he didn’t recall joining.

“I don’t care if either of you did it because the likeliest scenario is that _both_ of you still conspired to join me in this Flat Earth Society group,” Tsukishima sighed, adjusting his glasses. “But if this happens again, I’m taking Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 hostage while both of you are passed out.”

“You wouldn’t,” Kageyama gasped.

“I can last more hours without sleep than both of you,” Tsukishima smirked, and leaned down over them to allow Hinata and Kageyama full view of his eyebags. “So, if you don’t want your precious video game to go missing, I suggest _leaving my phone alone.”_

The two gulped and nodded. Seeing as he made his point clear, Tsukishima entered his own room where his roommate-slash-childhood best friend-slash-the least annoying person in the house, peered up at him over the stack of books – Dead White Men literature as Yamaguchi liked to call it – greeted him with “They hacked into your phone again, didn’t they?”

“Yeah,” Tsukishima grumbled and carelessly dropped his bag at the foot of his bed and shrugged off his gray hoodie.

“You know, if you keep basing your passwords on the Jurassic Park movie soundtrack maybe they’ll stop successfully hacking your phone,” Yamaguchi said cheekily as he thumbed through the pages of thick stack of readings. He was already dressed for bed with a pullover sweater over his pajamas and the top part of his hair tied up. Tsukishima scowled.

“Well, I already threatened to steal Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 from them while they were asleep if they did it again.”

“That ought to scare them,” Yamaguchi chuckled.

“It better,” Tsukishima muttered, opening the settings on his phone to immediately change his password to something Hinata and Kageyama probably wouldn’t guess so quickly. While changing his password, Tsukishima glanced at the time, 11:58, and immediately began to get ready for bed.

“New episode?” Yamaguchi guessed, most likely noticing how fast Tsukishima changed into his pajamas and snatched his headphones from his bag.

“Yep,” Tsukishima smiled excitedly, putting on his headphones and clicking on the ‘Screams On-Screen: A Podcast on Horror Movies’ website that he always kept bookmarked on his phone. It was Tsukishima’s favorite podcast which he had followed ever since its first episode aired two years ago. Once a week, every Wednesday, the creator would air an episode that either discussed a concept found in several horror movies or analyzing a single horror movie. Sometimes he would have a series of episodes discussing a particular concept tackled in several movies. As someone who had spent his youth sneaking into R-13 horror movies with his older brother, Tsukishima loved the series. He loved learning more about horror movies he had watched before and getting recommendations for new ones.

Tsukishima hit ‘play’ on the episode and listened with the volume up as Yamaguchi switched off the lights in their room and crawled into bed. “Hello sleepless listeners, unless you are listening to this podcast at a respectable hour of the day, welcome to another episode of ‘Screams On-Screen’”, the podcast creator, or as he liked to call himself ‘Cat’s Pajamas’, spoke through Tsukishima’s headphones. As much as Tsukishima liked to respect people’s online privacy and at the same time disliked having numerous people following him on Twitter, he couldn’t help but want to attach a face to the voice he liked listening to so much. When it came to podcasts, Tsukishima was always picky about voices. If a voice sounded too much like a condescending man hopped up on too much sugar, he wouldn’t even listen to their podcast no matter how interesting the content was. But Cat’s Pajamas, Tsukishima liked to admit although only on his Twitter account that he liked to keep secret from his friends, had a great voice: pleasing to hear, not too fast-paced, and even sounded as if he was simply making conversation.

Cat’s Pajamas wasn’t likely to reveal their identity soon, so the least Tsukishima felt he could do for now was to leave a lengthy review of each episode on Twitter, right after it aired.

…

“Hey Tsukki, let’s go to a party on Friday!” was not something Yamaguchi knew Tsukki liked to hear in the morning over his breakfast of sugary cereal and non-sugary coffee. Tsukishima narrowed his eyes at him in annoyance, and also because he wasn’t wearing his glasses.

“Come on,” Yamaguchi prodded him further. “Tanaka and Noya are throwing a party and we haven’t seen them in ages.”

“And that’s exactly how I want to leave it,” Tsukki said. “Besides, I have a job interview on Friday.”

“A job interview?” Yamaguchi cocked his head. “Where? At the library?”

“No,” Tsukki snorted. “Too many people asking dumb questions late at night.”

“Hey, I happen to be one of those people,” Yamaguchi sniffed. He was actually one of those students that librarians hate since he would take out eight books at a time, return a fourth of them on time, another fourth late, and the rest of it at the end of the semester.

“It’s for the new movie theater just fifteen minutes from here,” Tsukki answered. Yamaguchi inwardly cringed as he watched his friend sip his black coffee. “It’s small, so less people to interact with, and I bet they have hours that I can work with.”

“Meaning graveyard shifts,” Yamaguchi sighed. “You need to _sleep_ Tsukki.”

“None of us sleep. And besides, I don’t have to do anything except maybe stamp people’s tickets. I might even get to watch movies for free.”

“Is that why you want the job?”

“It’s exactly why I want the job.”

“Fine,” Yamaguchi sighed, knowing how stubborn his best friend was going to be about it. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t catch up to the party.”

“I need to recharge my social batteries,” Tsukishima said.

“Come on,” Yamaguchi groaned. “If you come, you can see Hinata and Kageyama do more stupid shit.”

Tsukki squinted at a spot on the wall in front of him and Yamaguchi knew he was one smart reason away from convincing him.

“You’ll get to raid the Poptarts in their cupboard if you’re there.”

“Fine,” Tsukki agreed. Yamaguchi mentally high-fived himself. “But if Hinata and Kageyama are vomiting by the end of the night, we’re leaving them to fend for themselves.”

“Deal!” Yamaguchi grinned. As much as he wanted to be the Good Friend that glued Tsukki and the troublesome duo, he knew Hinata and Kageyama would probably be in safer hands crashing at Tanaka and Noya’s place.

Yamaguchi finished the rest of his normally-sugared cereal while watching Tsukki scroll through his phone. Ever since high school, Yamaguchi couldn’t help but be aesthetically attracted to his childhood best friend. He had blonde hair, like his brother and mother, only it was a few shades lighter, that had grown out in curls framing his face. After he stopped playing volleyball, Tsukki lost a bit of muscle but his arms and legs still hadn’t lost their lean-ness. There was a time when Yamaguchi would admit that he did sort of had a crush on his best friend but the feeling never lasted. Not that Yamaguchi ever regretted it.

“Idiots,” Tsukishima smirked as he typed on his phone.

“Who are?”

“The Flat Earth Society group,” Tsukishima held up his phone to show him. “This guy posted a link to an article from ‘The Onion’ of all places. It’s about how dinosaur bones were actually planted in certain areas by NASA.”

“You’ll have a lot of fun arguing with these people,” Yamaguchi mused and packed away his cereal bowl as Tsukki continued to fight Flat-Earthers.

After a quick shower, doing the 7-step Korean skincare routine that had yet to show results, and taking a century to decide what do with his long bangs, Yamaguchi was well on his way to walk to class. Apart from the seven flights of stairs and the complete lack of elevators in their apartment complex, it only took about fifteen minutes to walk to campus. When it came to student housing, he really struck out since he attended the same university as his three other friends. Yamaguchi couldn’t imagine having to share a room with a complete stranger, even though he did have an approachable personality. Or rather, he couldn’t imagine not going to different schools as his friends.

As soon as he reached his building, Yamaguchi ran up the flights of stairs to catch some time to speed-read the remaining chapters of the assigned book – a Jane Austen novel which was slightly better than another Dead White Men book but nonetheless still very White – when he passed by a short, blonde-haired girl struggling to open a door. Yamaguchi had seen her often in the building and he knew that she ate with Hinata and Kageyama in their favorite cafeteria since she was apparently helping them with English classes, but he never got around to talking to her. Seeing that she was holding some really long, rolled-up pieces of paper under one arm, a small, but very well-made model of a house in her other hand, and struggling to open the classroom door with her elbow, Yamaguchi quickly rushed over to open the door for her.

“Ah!” the girl yelped in surprise as he reached his arm out. The tiny house in her one hand wobbled out of her grasp and Yamaguchi caught it in one hand.

“Sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you there,” he smiled down at her sheepishly. Up close, he could see that her bangs were clipped to the side with long, pink and blue hairclips. “Let me help you with that.”

“Th-thanks,” the girl nodded, visibly relaxed as she smiled up at him when he swung open the door. Her smile was just as warm as Yamaguchi’s entire face when he gave her back the tiny house model.

“N-no problem,” he stammered out. The girl waved shyly at him before entering class with all her things. Yamaguchi shook himself out of his stupor before walking along the hallway to his class which he was now probably late for, Jane Austen novel completely forgotten.

…

Tsukishima would die a million times over before saying it out loud but he didn’t completely hate being in the Flat Earth Society Facebook group even if Hinata and Kageyama added him against his will. Reading all the loosely-based-on-science posts, looking at shitty diagrams of discs, and most of all going wild in the comments section kept him more engaged than the Google Chrome Dinosaur Game. He enjoyed it so much that he was two minutes late to his Human Osteology class, which is still much earlier than Professor Shimada who Tsukishima would catch enjoying his coffee outside of the building.

He slid into his usual seat in the lecture hall after finishing a comment in a very long thread about how NASA could not have planted dinosaur bones under layers of rock that had obviously been around for millions of years. The person who posted the very dubious article, a guy named Kuroo Tetsurou, was very persistent and very dumb when it came to responding to Tsukishima’s accusations. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the satisfaction of reading the standard ‘I guess I’ll be the bigger person here and end the argument. I’m sure that you will eventually realize you are wrong soon. God bless you’ response, only with way more misspellings and grammar errors, whenever they realized they were losing. After clicking ‘Post,’ Tsukishima pocketed his phone to save battery, and to give that Kuroo Tetsurou guy time to construct a decent argument.

“Morning Kei,” his seatmate and partner-in-suffering, Kozume Kenma, greeted as he sat in the seat beside him.

“Hey,” Tsukishima greeted, watching Kenma yawn for a good five seconds as he pulled the hood of his red, pullover jacket over his head. Kenma was an Anthropology major who shared almost the same classes as Tsukishima. The two of them would always sit together in class, suffer through memorizing and drawing the human skeletal system, and take turns being lookout while the other slept behind a textbook. Tsukishima liked Kenma, he was quiet but very purposeful with whatever he was saying to the point that Tsukishima knew that he was more observant than he let on. And even though Tsukishima wasn’t really interested in gaming with his knowledge of games limited to That One Game that his housemates played, he and Kenma could make good conversation or sit in comfortable silence.

“How many bones were you able to count?” Kenma asked. Tsukishima sighed. He did accept to have to draw and memorize each of the hundreds of bones in the human body when he signed up for Human Osteology but what he didn’t expect was that Professor Shimada would give them low-resolution pictures of bones in a sack or bones in a ground and expect them to count and identify all of them.

“Other than the obvious femur and skull? Very little.”

“Same here,” Kenma yawned again. Part of his hair was tied up in a loose, messy bun and his undereye circles were as dark as ever. Tsukishima knew Kenma slept even less than he did. Just as he was about to reply, Professor Shimada strolled into class as if he wasn’t late and immediately complained about the tech guys not setting up the projector. Three hours of hasty bone sketches, pictures of slides, and two Professor Shimada rambles later, class was dismissed. There was another pair research which Kenma and Tsukishima agreed to do at least a day before the Monday deadline and the two parted ways.

Tsukishima had three more hours before his next class. After grabbing a sandwich and his second coffee for the day and trying not to think of frosted, strawberry jam Poptarts, he headed to the library to cram some homework and check on whether or not the Flat-Earthers he was fighting were still up for an argument or have decided to cut their losses. Or, whether the group admins would finally kick him out.

After scrolling through his notifications, Tsukishima found that most of the people he argued with have thrown in the ‘I guess I’ll be the bigger person here and end the argument. I’m sure that you will eventually realize you are wrong soon. God bless you’ towel, except for the stubborn Flat-Earther, Kuroo Tetsurou who had the audacity to say that NASA also planted the layers of rock that have accumulated over dinosaur fossils and lied about them being millions of years old.

“Alright, it’s on,” Tsukishima felt his eyebrows twitch in annoyance. The argument was dumb, he knew that, but what irritated him the most was how pathetically Kuroo Tetsurou attempted to refute his argument just by saying that NASA planted everything. It was like beating an opponent in a video game by repeatedly punching or kicking them fast enough for them being unable to block until their health bar ran low, something that Kageyama yelled at Hinata for whenever they were playing. Just as Tsukishima was about to type a very lengthy reply, he received a chat notification from none other than the Flat Earther himself.

[from: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:34) _hello fellow flat-earther!_

(1:34) _jk, i’m actually not one and i basically joined this group for shits and giggles_

(1:34) _and boy did i have a good time_

(1:35) _anyways i kind of wanted to break it to u because as much as i can tell u love arguing with the frisbee earth believers, i feel bad that ur spending all that energy on me_

Tsukishima’s fingers hovered over his phone as he frowned at the series of messages that could have just been typed into a single message instead of separate ones. On the one hand, he wasn’t unsurprised seeing that there was another person in the Flat Earth Society group that stuck around for the so-called ‘shits and giggles’ and that was the reason why he chose not to immediately leave the group. He could just type a simple ‘oh I see’ and be on his way but if Kuroo Tetsurou could persistently pretend to be a Flat-Earther and argue back at Tsukishima’s comments, he had a feeling he wouldn’t be leaving him alone anytime soon.

[to: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:37) _alright then. i’ll find some other people to mess with_

[from: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:37) _i suggest spacing out ur snarky replies to the group posts tho_

(1:37) _not that i LOVE reading them_

(1:37) _but if u wanna stick around the group longer then i suggest not fighting TOO MUCH u kno?_

(1:37) _like, these guys are dumb af but they’ll catch on eventually_

Tsukishima raised his eyebrow at the guy’s quick response that expressed some sort of desire to continue a conversation and most of all, how much he kind of wanted to continue said conversation as well. He didn’t even use social media that much except for his occasional long review of ‘Screams On-Screen’ and he had a strict policy when it came to talking to strangers online. But for some reason, the voice that said ‘this couldn’t hurt and besides, we’re in both in this Facebook group for the same reasons’ was much louder.

[to: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:38) _so that’s why you’re posting all these dumb articles from the onion?_

[from: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:38) _that amongst other fun things u might have read in the group_

(1:38) _i posted a shitty diagram that i made on powerpoint at 3 am and it has more comments than any of my posts_

[to: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:38) _you mean the one showing how night and day works on a flat earth with the sun acting like a desk lamp?_

[from: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:38) _YES_

(1:38) _THAT ONE_

(1:39) _it’s one of my best if i do say so myself_

[to: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:39) _the labeling could have been done better but i guess so_

[from: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:39) _wow_

(1:39) _mr. tsukishima sure is very detailed_

[to: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:40) _it’s not like the flat-earthers are going to tell you off_

[from: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:40) _HAH_

(1:40) _u have a point there_

[to: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:40) _and you sound like you have way too much time on your hands_

[from: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:40) _hmm, sounds like something a student would say_

(1:41) _i bet you are one tsukishima_

‘Crap,’ Tsukishima inwardly cursed, suddenly realizing that he spent way too much time chatting with a stranger he met on a Flat Earth Society group. He didn’t even consider the fact that we probably a creep who picked up guys or girls on Facebook. He sucked in a deep breath and calculated a response to end the chat.

[to: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:43) _i’d rather keep the personal details of the table_

[from: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:43) _right, right_

(1:43) _i’m sorry i didn’t mean to creep u out_

(1:43) _i kind of just tried to make a guess but i know it was still pretty creepy_

(1:43) _just completely flat-earth related talk from now on_

[to: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:44) _yeah i don’t know about that_

(1:44) _i actually have work to do now other than arguing with flat-earthers_

[from: Kuroo Tetsurou]

(1:44) _okey-dokey artichoke_

(1:44) _i’ll leave u to ur work which i am not going to speculate on_

(1:44) _Flat-Earther: Out_

Tsukishima sighed. “Well, glad that’s over,” he said, putting on his headphones and taking out his laptop and textbook from his bag. He knew that by tomorrow he’d probably leave the group after getting tired of arguing with people. If he gets the job at the movie theater he’ll have even less time to spend on anything but at least his mom wouldn’t have to give him allowance anymore, even if it would eat up his time way more. Not that he wasn’t used to it already.

Tsukishima procrastinated just a few minutes more by looking for something to listen to while he worked. His thumb hovered over his usual rock music playlist when he decided to pull up the ‘Screams On-Screen’ website again. There were episodes he had listened to over and over again enough that he could simply have the podcast as background noise and not be distracted from work. He selected one, an episode that analyzed the “Jaws” movie, and let Cat’s Pajamas’ voice drown out the library noise.

…

“Yachi-san! Thank god you’re here,” Hinata cried, practically crying tears of relief as Yachi carried her food tray over to where she, Hinata, and Kageyama usually sat during lunch. “We have homework due tomorrow and stupid Kageyama kept teaching me all the wrong things.”

“It’s not my fault you lost your notes!” Kageyama protested. Yachi sighed at her two friends who, judging by the table stacked with notebooks, wrinkled worksheets, and tons of eraser dust, could tell that they had been studying for a good amount of time.

“Sorry guys, my professor wouldn’t end the period without poring over every single one of our designs,” Yachi apologized, setting her tray down in what little remained of the empty space on the table. The knot in her stomach from her previous Space Planning and Proportion class when her professor, a notoriously meticulous one, spent what felt like an eternity scrutinizing Yachi’s floor plan sketch, had yet to unravel. With her multi-tasking and planning skills, Yachi was able to get by her classes with enough time to sleep and work on her beloved bullet journal. What she couldn’t plan ahead for was the sheer anxiety of waiting on whether her designs were going to be approved or sent back to the drawing room. ‘Such is the life of an Interior Design major,’ she sighed.

One of the things that got her through her days was having lunch with her friends. Hinata and Kageyama, the superstars of their college volleyball team, were not exactly within the realm of people Yachi knew she would be friends with. In fact, she met the two of them through the English tutoring program at the university which Yachi volunteered for. They probably had the worst grades among those who signed up for tutoring sessions but they worked the hardest and put their all into learning, especially when tournament season rolled around and they had to get their grades up. What’s more, they didn’t just see her as ‘someone who helped them with English’ but they grew into a close group of friends through their study sessions. Sometimes Kageyama would bring an extra blueberry yogurt drink from the vending machine and Hinata would ask about how she was doing when her requirements piled on. Yachi had to quit volunteering as a tutor by the time her second year rolled around but she had still remained friends with Kageyama and Hinata.

“Yachi-san, did I do this part right?” Kageyama handed her his notebook, frowning and rubbing the back of his head in frustration. A year ago, she would have had to take half an hour to discern the mess that was Kageyama’s handwriting but after lots of practice, she was able to discern the paragraph he was writing.

“It’s good!” she nodded. Kageyama gloated at Hinata who screwed up his face in frustration. “Just watch out for some of your verb conjugation, and… the handwriting,” she added sheepishly. Kageyama pouted slightly but nodded nonetheless, taking back the notebook to rewrite his answer on a fresh sheet.

“How ‘bout mine?” Hinata bobbed up and down in his seat. His handwriting was slightly better than Kageyama’s only with a few more errors in sentence structure. Hinata pouted slightly at the fact that Kageyama’s work was slightly better than his but corrected his work nonetheless. At first, Yachi thought their rivalry, which spanned everything from racing to class, to number of wins in a game called Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, would be detrimental to their learning but found out soon that the rivalry kind of helped in a weird way. Both of them were much better than they were a year ago and Yachi couldn’t help but feel proud.

After half an hour of helping them finish their homework in-between bites of lunch, the three of them sat around the table with their favorite vending machine drinks that were basically different flavors of milk. Hinata and Kageyama would review new hand signals for their next game and Yachi would check and reply to the comments on the ‘September: Bullet Journal Plan with Me’ video she recently posted. Once in a while, they’d share a video of a cute animal that they found and replay it back and forth while gushing. It was a good break in-between more classes and assignments full of more floor plans and lectures about interior design throughout history. And not to mention the midterm assignment for her one class that the professor was already asking proposals for.

“Something wrong, Yachi?” Hinata asked, startling Yachi from her regular Mental Spiral into Worry.

“Ah! It’s,” Yachi paused and looked up to find both of her friends looking at her with concern. Well, it was mostly Hinata who looked concerned while Kageyama just blinked at her blankly. “I was just thinking about my midterm assignment which is, well, out of my comfort zone. For this one, I have to create a floor plan and sketch wall decorations for a client and an existing space.”

“Well, you could do it for our apartment,” Hinata suggested. “Stupid Tsukishima always has his stupid archaeology equipment lying around so there’s never any space around.” Yachi couldn’t help but smile at yet another mention of ‘stupid Tsukishima’, who also apparently went by the nickname ‘Stingyshima’, the infamous housemate that annoyed Hinata and Kageyama to no end.

“Thanks, but it has to be more of a retail space,” Yachi said. Hinata and Kageyama looked at her blankly so Yachi clarified. “It’s a space dedicated for selling something, like a restaurant or a st”ore.”

“Oh,” they said in unison.

“We’ll just help you out,” Kageyama said simply, as if it wouldn’t take away a huge amount of their time and be a complete inconvenience.

“N-no, really it’s fine—”

“Yeah, we’ll help you out,” Hinata agreed. “Our training starts and ends early tomorrow so we can help you ask around.”

“B-but—”

“There are a lot of restaurants along Block 5 near where Tanaka and Noya’s place is,” Kageyama added. “And we can go to the party after.”

“P-party?”

“Yeah!” Hinata exclaimed, literally jumping off his seat much to the surprise of the students sitting at the table behind them. “You should come with us to the party too Yachi-san!”

“W-well,” Yachi stammered. She wasn’t hardwired to attend wild college parties and found staying at home on Friday nights with a cup of tea and cute puppy videos on her phone were more her thing. That didn’t mean she necessarily _hated_ parties. In fact, she was very curious about attending just one at least once in her college life before whatever interior design business she hoped she could get into swallowed her up. Hinata and Kageyama looked at her expectantly. Well, she could always just stay for one hour maximum if she didn’t like it. Her friends would understand.

“Okay then,” she grinned, making a note in her head to look up how to manage alcohol tolerance.

…

Akaashi’s official favorite phrase of the day was “Class dismissed”, especially since they were running on three hours of sleep, an unhealthy amount of caffeine which caused their hand to shake constantly which in turn prevented their eyeliner from being sharp enough to kill the annoying, straight, cis-men in their class, and having to deal with those same annoying, straight cis-men in their class, namely Daishou “Son of a Chairman” Suguru and his friends. The fact that they and Daishou Suguru had almost the same classes ever since Akaashi decided to major in Business Management added to their annoyance and relief that they were done for the rest of the day.

But what set Akaashi most off-edge, which was directly linked to why they had only three hours of sleep and consumed too much coffee in one sitting, was the fact that they had made 0 progress on their thesis proposal and they had a meeting with their adviser next week. If they didn’t find a local business to partner with and apply all the business-knowhow they had compiled over the years, Akaashi would have to ask for another extension which they knew they were running out of.

While they stashed their notes, laptop, and empty coffee thermos in their bag, they couldn’t help but overhear Daishou talking about how he got his thesis in the bag since he was going to work with a small business that his father most likely bribed into letting his son intern for. ‘Good luck with that,’ Akaashi thought irritably as they slung their bag over their shoulder and walked down the steps of the giant lecture hall. Part of them hoped that Daishou’s thesis adviser, which thankfully wasn’t the same as Akaashi’s, would turn down his proposal because he couldn’t have familial or personal ties with the business. But then again, Daishou would probably bribe his way in as well.

While walking to the bus stop home and drinking from their coffee thermos that was now filled with water to flush out all the caffeine they drank, Akaashi checked off the areas that they had already scoped. Most of the blocks they looked at were in between their university campus and Senshu University where a lot of restaurants, café’s, and bookstores that took advantage of the college student population. They had kept a list of shops and restaurants that they could hopefully partner with but with no such luck, the list dwindled to only a few places left. Akaashi ran a hand through their hair frustratedly and compiled the places they hadn’t check out into an even shorter list. They looked up the names while on the bus home to prepare.

One of the names on the list drew their attention was the Bird’s Nest Diner. The name didn’t come up in social media sites but when they looked it up online, short articles featuring the best diners in Tokyo would come up with Bird’s Nest being one of them. Those articles though were dated years ago. Some of the people they knew did eat at the diner at least once, said they had really good fried chicken, but never said that they came back. If Akaashi were to make an educated guess, it seemed as if Bird’s Nest Diner had been popular once but lost the popularity, probably under new management. Akaashi mulled it over for a while and decided to list it as the first place they would check out the next day. Luckily, they didn’t have classes on Fridays since he took classes during the summer. If Bird’s Nest didn’t work out, they had the time to look for another place.

Akaashi sighed for what was probably the seventieth time that day. But first, they needed a good 8 hours of sleep.

…

Kuroo didn’t believe he would get tired of Flat Earth Society in a day, but sure enough he was. Not even when he scrolled through all the new anti-vaccine, since being a Flat Earther also meant you were apparently an anti-vaxxer, posts. He couldn’t even think of more witty things to comment. Kuroo looked up from his phone and looked around the diner. It was mostly empty, save for a few occupied tables, which was normal for a Thursday night, or any night for that matter. He missed the crowded-ness of Bird’s Nest in its heyday, back when he was a high school student who came to eat with his best friend, Kenma. The entire diner would be filled with people talking, even if they were from different tables, and the kitchens were always bustling and sending food out. Of course, no one could miss the old ‘Bird’s Nest’ more than Bokuto himself.

Bokuto had worked at Bird’s Nest ever since he was in high school and no one loved the diner more than he did. Even though he spent most of his time in the kitchen, Kuroo remembered how Bokuto would sometimes take a break and chat with the diners, asking them how they liked their food, or yelling things like ‘have a good night!’, ‘enjoy the food’, and ‘get home safely’ in his loud voice. He was energetic, charismatic, and the entire diner seemed to revolve around his energy despite how young he was. Anyone who worked at Bird’s Nest could tell Bokuto loved cooking and was proud of his food and work.

And now, he spent most of his time wiping every table in the diner. Kuroo watched, with his chin on the counter, the expression on Bokuto’s face as he meticulously re-arranged the napkins at a table he finished wiping. After being friends with him for years, Kuroo could tell that Bokuto wasn’t in one of his depressed moods. He wasn’t happy either, but he lacked his usual energy and gleam in his eyes. Kuroo would even consider saying that he looked empty, and that depressed him. Knowing that Bokuto looked like this every day depressed him even more. The chance to see his smile was the reason why Kuroo decided, out of the blue, to live with Bokuto and work at Bird’s Nest in the first place.

“Hey Kuroo!”

The sound of Bokuto’s voice shook Kuroo out of his thoughts as he saw his friend come bounding over him with a grin on his face. The sight of it made Kuroo smile and sit up.

“You’re still on that Flat Earth group thing right? I dare you to post this!” Bokuto showed Kuroo his phone that had a Flat Earth meme, the funniest one Kuroo had ever seen which made him laugh with his hands grabbing his sides, therefore startling the only customers in the diner.

“Well Bo, I might get kicked out of the group if I post this.”

“Come on,” Bokuto pulled his arm. “If you get kicked out of the group, at least do it with a bang!” He grinned down at Kuroo who, unable to resist, gave in.

“Fine, send it to me,” he agreed.

“Yes!” Bokuto pumped his fists in the air. “Oh, can I make the caption?”

“Only if it’s a good one, Bo.”

…

Tsukishima fell asleep in the library. Again. His cheek ached and when he brushed his fingers over it, he could feel the marks from his notebook’s spine where he had rested his head on. Now he’d have the Mark of Shame when he left the library. ‘Time to finish studying at home then,’ he thought, packing away his unused notebook and leaving the library with his hood pulled up over his head.

The smell of Hinata’s cooking greeted him when he entered his shared apartment. It was pretty late so everyone had finished eating but his portion of curry and rice was still in the pan. One of the upsides to living with Hinata and Kageyama was that Hinata, surprisingly, could cook very well and the rest of them didn’t have to rely on instant ramen, while Kageyama made sure that there weren’t any leftovers. Tsukishima didn’t eat as much as they did.

“Hey, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi greeted when Tsukishima entered the room with his dinner. His best friend was typing furiously on his laptop with his bangs tied up in a little ponytail again. There were empty mugs of tea near the foot of his table. As someone who tried to replace his caffeine dependency with tea and ended up yelling at a curtain after just two days, Tsukishima couldn’t understand where Yamaguchi got his energy from.

Tsukishima procrastinated on his paper by scrolling through his phone and eating dinner. Curiously, he decided to check the Flat Earth Society group again. He scrolled through anti-vaxxer articles, arguments that he didn’t even want to get into just yet, until his eyes landed on a post titled “extinction_of_the_dinosaurs.jpg”. It was a meme with a series of images: a comet about to crash into a frisbee-looking Earth, the dinosaurs looking up at said comet, the comet striking one side of the frisbee Earth, and lastly, the dinosaurs catapulting into space.

Tsukishima forgot how much rice was in his mouth when he burst out laughing. And Yamaguchi, who was so focused on cramming his paper on Jane Austen and was very much in ‘the Zone’ to bullshit his way through it, was startled out of ‘the Zone’ by the sound of his friend laughing, and then coughing, and almost resorted to the Heimlich Maneuver.


	2. the big bang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by: pants with the word 'glam' stitched right where the ass is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so sorry if this chapter is terrible i swear i did not even edit kjgsjkljask. on the other hand, thanks so much to all of you who checked out the first chapter and chose to wait for the second one :)

[from: Tsukishima Kei]

(11:45 pm) _weren’t you the one who said to lay low so the flat-earthers don’t kick you out yet?_

[to: Tsukishima Kei]

(11:45 pm) _ohohoho_

(11:45 pm) _it seems i’ve caught ur attention (^-^)_

[from: Tsukishima Kei]

(11:45 pm) _you’ve caught everyone’s attention_

[to: Tsukishima Kei]

(11:46 pm) _it was a meme too good not to share in that instant_

(11:46 pm) _if i get tired and leave the group eventually might as well leave an impression_

[from: Tsukishima Kei]

(11:46 pm) _nice choice_

(11:46 pm) _they’re still figuring out how to delete the post_

[to: Tsukishima Kei]

(11:47 pm) _hsjhajkhdgjkhjkha N I C E_

…

The only reason Kenma left his house at 9:30 am for a 10 am class, instead of making a break for the campus at 9:50 and accepting that he was going to be late, was solely so that he would have time to catch Pokemon and hatch his eggs. There was a special event, something related to celebrating autumn or whatever it was in the notice that Kenma skimmed through as quickly as he did a Terms and Conditions page which was none at all, and for that entire week, orange-colored Pokemon have been showing up more. He had caught more than enough Charmanders and Torchics to evolve a Charizard and a Blaziken but Kenma was more on the lookout for a Vulpix. He already had a Vulpix, but he kind of wanted both a Ninetales and a Vulpix. A Dragonite wouldn’t hurt either.

By the time he was halfway to campus, he had run out of Pokeballs to throw. Kenma decided to stash away his phone for the meantime and hope that one of his eggs would at least hatch by the time he reached campus. He took the time to step on the orange leaves that have started to fall from the trees, trying to find ones that would make the best crunch sound like he always did when he was a kid. It was childish, but it passed the time and gave him something to focus on instead of the people who passed by him along the fairly-busy streets. Kenma reached campus with fifteen minutes to spare before 10 am, meaning he had an extra fifteen minutes before the _actual start_ of the class. He sat on his favorite part of the sidewalk near the bike racks and checked Pokemon Go once again.

While he was disappointed that he still needed to walk an extra 5 meters to hatch his egg, he was pleasantly surprised that the university’s main gymnasium, which was ironically a Pokemon Gym as well, was having a raid in two minutes with the prize being a Ninetales that he desperately wanted. Kenma sighed contentedly, convinced that things were going well for him this morning only for his morning calm to be interrupted by a phone call. His calm left and was replaced by annoyance as he weighed the option of ignoring the call and continuing with the raid or accepting the call from Kuroo, who, after years of their friendship, still conveniently forgot that Kenma preferred being texted. ‘He’ll just call again during the actual raid if I don’t pick up,’ he sighed, ultimately deciding to cater to his best friend’s needs.

_“Kenma! Good morning!”_ Kuroo greeted. Kenma felt his own energy deplete even further as it paled next to Kuroo’s.

“Yeah. What is it?”

_“Caught you at a bad time didn’t I? Were you about to catch a Pokemon?”_ Kuroo guessed, spot-on of course, which annoyed Kenma further.

“Close,” Kenma shrugged.

_“Okay, okay I’ll make this short. We’re having this promo at the diner later to hopefully attract customers and—”_

“You want me to come by for dinner in case Bokuto gets dejected that it doesn’t work,” Kenma finished. He was just as good at guessing what Kuroo was thinking as Kuroo was at guessing about him.

_“Pleeeaaaaaaase,”_ Kuroo pleaded. _“Come on, it’s technically free dinner for you.”_

“Alright Kuroo,” Kenma agreed.

_“Thank you!”_ Kuroo sighed in relief. _“Thank you thank you thank you thank you.”_

“See you later,” Kenma hung up. As much as he looked up to his best friend for having every single good quality that Kenma didn’t have, including but not limited to: extrovertedness, dedication, and charisma, he still found it hard to watch Kuroo head-over-heels for Bokuto for so long without confessing. Kenma knew he couldn’t possibly understand Kuroo’s sentiments, especially since he had never been in love with anyone before, but he knew dragging out an unrequited love for so long couldn’t possibly be healthy. There was no way he could push Kuroo to simply confess, so Kenma figured that the least he could do was to at least be there for his friend. Even if it meant missing out on his favorite gamer’s livestream to eat fried chicken with them.t

Shaking himself out of his thoughts for later that night, Kenma returned to the important matter at hand: winning the raid. After clicking ‘Join’ and waiting for the countdown, he found one other user enter the raid as well. In fact, it was Charmander Explosion Master _,_ a user that Kenma found battling in raids across campus. Their avatar had bright orange hair, an Eevee baseball cap, a black jacket and black shorts. ‘Let’s hope he can hold his own,’ Kenma thought. Players who took advantage of his high-CP Pokemon were on Kenma’s list of pet peeves, right below ‘wet socks in wet shoes’.

Thankfully, Charmander Explosion Master was just as dedicated to defeating and capturing the Ninetales as Kenma was. Especially since they had a good selection of water-type Pokemon. In a few seconds, the Ninetales was defeated and all that’s left was for Kenma to catch it. Concentrating hard, Kenma dragged and tossed the Pokeballs at the Ninetales, only for the Pokemon to burst out at the last minute. It continued 5 times until Kenma was tragically out of chances.

Annoyed even more, Kenma pocketed his phone and stood up. “Stupid Ninetales,” he muttered as he pulled his hoodie over his face. At about the same time, he heard a loud cheer coming from somewhere along the sidewalk.

“Aw yeah! I got a Ninetales!”

Kenma turned around and saw the human version of Charmander Explosion Master _,_ minus the Eevee baseball cap, walking towards the university gymnasium next to his tall, dark-haired friend.

“Look Kageyama, look!” Charmander Explosion Master grinned, shoving his phone at his friend. Kenma pouted, clearly jealous of Charmander Explosion Master’s ridiculously good luck, and headed to class, hoping that he would let go of it by the end of the day.

…

Akaashi felt much better after a good night’s sleep and a cup of tea in the morning. The house was quiet in the morning after their father, a widowed, history professor who worked at Senshu University, left to go to work. Akaashi’s father had a bad habit of forgetting to eat breakfast in the morning so they always made sure that his breakfast was cling-wrapped and in the fridge the night before, ready to be microwaved in the morning. That said, the fridge was the first thing Akaashi checked in the morning.

Since they didn’t have class, Akaashi took the time to put on make-up, a warm brown, glittery eyeshadow to bring out the green in their eyes, and a nice outfit, a maroon turtleneck sweater and white pants, before leaving the house. In the bus, they took the time to go over their usual spiel for when they met with Bird’s Nest’s owner, and upload a selfie on Instagram. Akaashi never thought they’d be Instagram-famous and started out uploading a few selfies of his nice make-up looks and OOTD photos. The post that really caused them to go viral was a short guide that they decided to make on altering thrift shop clothes. As someone who boycotted the entire fast-fashion industry, Akaashi loved thrifting and altering new pieces. Seeing an audience, Akaashi decided to make more posts of the clothes they altered and guides on thrifting, other than their usual selfies. At first, they thought having such a huge following would be an inconvenience to their plans to graduate college with honors, but their followers were always understanding even when Akaashi wasn’t able to post for weeks. When they came out as non-binary, their followers were one of their huge support systems other than their father.

The bus stopped at Block 5 and Akaashi walked the rest of the way to where Bird’s Nest was. The diner was situated right at the street’s corner with a small shop selling what appeared to be different kinds of condiments to its right. The building itself was 2 stories high and painted dark grey with yellow and white trimmings. There was banner in front of the diner’s entrance, colored dark gray, with ‘Bird’s Nest Diner’ written in white. Akaashi could see what appeared to be the diner’s logo, a bird’s nest with an owl, wings outstretched and perched on top, painted near the door. Outside of the diner was a man with black hair and an apron tied around his waist, sweeping the sidewalk. Akaashi approached him.

“Hello,” they greeted. The man looked up at him. His dark hair was more of a mess up close with bangs falling across one side of his face and the rest of his hair sticking up in all directions. He was also taller, and more muscular, than Akaashi but he smiled kindly at his greeting.

“Hey, the diner’s not open yet at this time but if you come back in an hour we would be happy to serve.”

“I was actually hoping to speak to the owner,” Akaashi said. “I’m Akaashi Keiji, a university student majoring in Business Management and I was hoping to partner with ‘Bird’s Nest’ for my thesis project,” they explained.

"Oh," the man rubbed the back of his head, obviously disheartened when he realized that Akaashi was not a customer. “Well, I’m not sure if we’re the kind of business you’d like to partner with, to be honest. We’re kind of not in a good place at the moment.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Akaashi shook their head. “The objective of my thesis is for me to apply what I’ve learned in creating strategies to help or further improve a smaller business.”

“Hmm, improve on what way?” the man cocked his head, obviously interested. Akaashi perked up, hoping that this would be the day he would finish the first step of his thesis and not have to beg for an extension from his professor.

“From aspects like promotion, management of resources, budgeting,” Akaashi enumerated. “Of course, I’d still need to interview the owner and hopefully some of the employees to understand the situation better.”

“I’m the only employee here other than the manager,” the guy laughed and leaned slightly on his broom. “But I think the owner would think it’s a good idea.”

“Really?” Akaashi smiled slightly. “That would be great.”

“I’m Kuroo Tetsurou, by the way,” the guy introduced himself, holding a hand out for Akaashi to shake.

“Akaashi Keiji.”

“Oh, and here comes the owner now,” Kuroo grinned, pointing a few blocks away where a man wearing a gray t-shirt, shorts, and what looked like thigh pads, was jogging towards them. Up close, Akaashi could see that his hair was streaked with black and white. “Hey Bokuto! This guy wants to talk to us!” Kuroo yelled as the running man, who was apparently named Bokuto, drew closer. He slowed to a stop right in front of Akaashi. Even more up close, they could see the slight bulge of Bokuto’s muscles on his arms and his thighs, the sweat rolling down the side of his neck, and the bright, golden eyes that fixed Akaashi to their spot, and making something in the pit of their stomach flutter.

…

Kuroo didn’t know it then, but the strange look that Bokuto gave Akaashi when they first met, would be his downfall in a few months. At that moment though, he didn’t think much of it and introduced the two.

“Bokuto, this is Akaashi Keiji,” he said, nodding his head at Akaashi, who had stopped staring at Bokuto, probably because of his friend’s weird hair, to continue.

“I’m a Business Major student from Hosei University and I was hoping to partner with ‘Bird’s Nest’ for my thesis project,” Akaashi stated. There was something about the way Akaashi talked that Kuroo liked. He spoke directly to the point, but calmly and without rush. Kuroo almost wished he had the same voice for his podcast. “The partnership entails me providing business strategies to target areas of improvement in your business.”

“What do you say Bo?” Kuroo nudged his best friend. “I think that this could be good for us since—”

“I accept!” Bokuto agreed enthusiastically, grinning at Akaashi who looked at the two of them in wide-eyed surprise.

“R-really?” Akaashi stammered. “…Just like that?” Kuroo laughed at his reaction and at Bokuto’s decision.

“Why not? I trust you,” Bokuto shook Akaashi’s hand, to his continued surprise. “Here’s to being partners.”

“Bokuto tends to go by his gut,” Kuroo explained. “So, I suggest get used to these kinds of decisions. But, so far his gut hasn’t completely failed us yet.”

“Right,” Akaashi nodded slowly, still processing everything.

“Why don’t you come in?” Bokuto said, opening the door to the diner. “This would be a good time to talk about it before the customers come in.”

“What customers?” Kuroo snorted, following Bokuto into the diner with Akaashi tailing behind him.

“There will be customers,” Bokuto protested, pouting at Kuroo slightly. “We’re doing the promo thing later, remember?” Kuroo laughed and mussed his friend’s hair before preparing a table for the three of them. Akaashi sat down and pulled out a folder from his tote bag.

“So, I’d like to ask a few questions first about how you conduct your business,” Akaashi said. “Are you two really the only people who work here?”

“Yup! Just me and Kuroo,” Bokuto grinned proudly. “There used to be more of us back when old man Ukai-san was running the place. Of course, there were more customers too.” Kuroo noted how Bokuto’s voice grew softer and softer as the proud expression on his face faltered. ‘Oh dear,’ Kuroo thought, knowing that his friend was quickly spiraling into his dejected mood again. “And now… barely any people… come…” he sniffed.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… make you feel bad?” Akaashi apologized uncertainly, clearly alarmed at Bokuto’s sudden mood change.

“Hey Bo, why don’t you go to the kitchen and cook something for Akaashi to try out?” Kuroo suggested, already pulling at him. “I bet the food from this place is the only thing that doesn’t need changing, right bro?” Bokuto immediately perked up, to Kuroo’s relief and probably to Akaashi’s further surprise.

“Yeah!” he exclaimed. “Sit tight Akaashi, I’ll fix this up in no time.”

“We’ll be waiting,” Kuroo chuckled, closing the door to the kitchen behind Bokuto and taking a seat at the table in front of Akaashi. The poor student blinked at him and glanced at the kitchen door. “His mood swings are pretty… intense.”

“I see,” Akaashi nodded. And looked around at the interior of the restaurant. Kuroo felt himself grimace, hoping Akaashi wouldn’t notice faded, yellow paint that was peeling in some areas, the old wooden tables and stools that have lost their shine, the dusty light fixtures, and the lack of decoration on the walls except for a framed newspaper from 4 years ago on Bird’s Nest’s popularity. It was the previous owner, Ukai-san’s, pride and joy. The expression on Akaashi’s face was completely neutral so Kuroo couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but he was thankful to not see a look of distaste.

“So, Bokuto-san said that this place had a different owner, right? Back when this place was still popular.”

“Yeah,” Kuroo nodded. “For years, this place used to be full of customers but then Ukai-san decided to move to his hometown and retire so he left the diner in the hands of Nobu-san, the manager, who basically ran this place to the ground.” He sighed when he remembered it. “He compromised the quality of the food and service to get higher profit. Knowing that his employees hated him, he just took what he could carry and ran. The remaining employees didn’t know how to manage the place until Bokuto stepped in. The rest of them left and the customers who used to regularly visit this place haven’t come back.”

“That must have been hard for Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said, scribbling something in his notes.

“It has,” Kuroo agreed, remembering all those days and nights of Bokuto struggling to keep the place afloat. “But we have tried to right the wrongs that Nobu-san made. The food is the same as it was during Ukai-san’s time and we do treat the customers right when we get some.”

“On average, how many customers do you get every day?” Akaashi asked.

“Probably less than twenty, per day,” Kuroo said. “A bit more on weekends.”

“And what are your operating hours?”

“From lunchtime at 12 noon to 10 in the evening.”

“What are your expenses?” Akaashi asked. “You don’t have to get too into detail with numbers but a good approximation would do. Just to give me an idea.”

“Let’s see… This building has already been bought years ago so we don’t pay rent. Miraculously, we still have good ties with our suppliers for ingredients so we get a pretty good discount on that. I think we spend the most on utilities. Things like electricity and water,” Kuroo answered.

“Alright. Last question for now,” Akaashi looked up at him. “How much are you able to keep as profit?”

“We earn just enough to keep the place afloat and for our salaries,” Kuroo answered honestly. “But we don’t get a lot of profit from it. We’ve been saving some money though to use for improving the diner but we don’t really know what yet.” Kuroo smiled at Akaashi. “Maybe you can help us with that.”

“I’ll do everything I can,” Akaashi nodded politely.

“Order up!” Bokuto yelled, crashing through the door while holding steaming plates of food on his hands. He had that wide grin on his face that often came up when he was delivering orders. Kuroo felt his heart jump. “Here we have our special egg fried rice, sweet and spicy fried chicken, and soft tofu stew,” Bokuto said, presenting all three dishes on the table. “These are our top ordered items. The soft tofu stew was Ukai-san’s special recipe from when he visited Korea.”

“You’ve outdone yourself again Bokuto,” Kuroo grinned, reaching out to grab a piece of fried chicken.

“Hey, let Akaashi eat first! He’s gonna help us out!” Bokuto playfully swatted his hand away.

“It’s alright. It would be nice for us to eat together,” Akaashi smiled politely up at Bokuto who grinned proudly. Kuroo passed out plates and silverware and the three of them sat down to eat. He couldn’t quite stop looking at Bokuto who was talking to Akaashi excitedly about how he was ready for Bird’s Nest to be back on the map. ‘I hope this works out well for us,’ Kuroo thought.

“Go on, try it!” Bokuto cheered as Akaashi sampled the soft tofu stew first. A look of surprise came over his face, followed by a delighted smile. Kuroo and Bokuto high-fived.

“Wow, it tastes amazing. Better than what I’ve had in restaurants,” Akaashi said, scooping some more of the broth and tofu into his bowl. Bokuto practically melted on the spot.

“It would be really great if more people could come and taste it,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to work here as a kid and with everyone else gone, I just don’t want to let Ukai-san down.” A rare look of melancholy came over Bokuto’s face as he piled rice on his plate. Kuroo caught Akaashi looking at the newspaper clipping hung on the wall.

“I can tell this place really means a lot to you,” Akaashi said. “Small, one-of-a-kind diners like these always hold a lot of meaning for people. I really hope that I’ll be able to help out.”

“No pressure or anything,” Kuroo joked, swallowing a spoonful of the soft tofu stew that warmed him up from inside. “But I agree. I almost miss having to line up outside just to sit down.”

“I miss not being able to put my knife down because of all the people lining up outside,” Bokuto added, elbowing Kuroo. After finishing their meal, which happened quite quickly due to how good the food was, Akaashi packed up his things and prepared to leave and write his proposal.

“If it’s okay with you, I’ll need to have a copy of some kind of logbook where you do your accounting, if it’s okay with you,” Akaashi asked.

“I can send a copy of it to you,” Kuroo volunteered.

“Kuroo does it because I don’t like doing the math,” Bokuto explained.

“Oh, and I’ll need to come by again with some consent forms for you two to sign,” Akaashi added. “I can give you my contact info.”

“Right,” Bokuto nodded. “I’d love to share… contact info,” handing over his phone for Akaashi to type in his number.

“Thanks again for agreeing to the partnership, and for the lunch,” Akaashi bowed politely.

“Come by soon when you need to,” Kuroo grinned.

“Yeah, and thanks a lot too,” Bokuto added. “You’re a great guy, Akaashi.”

Akaashi smiled at the two of them. “Actually, I’m nonbinary, so I’d prefer if you refer to me by they/them pronouns.”

“Oh! You’re… a great… person?” Bokuto stammered. “I-is that okay?” Kuroo chuckled at Bokuto’s attempt and made a mental note to remember Akaashi’s pronouns.

“That’s more than okay, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi smiled and turned to leave. Kuroo sighed happily and ran a hand through his hair.

“Thank god someone like Akaashi came along. This could be our lucky break, right Bo?” Kuroo turned to look at his friend, only to find him staring at Akaashi’s contact info on his phone with that same look that he had when he first saw them earlier.

“They’re… kinda cute, aren’t they?” Bokuto blushed and continued watching Akaashi. Kuroo was all too-familiar with the goofy look on his best friend’s face, and the soft, wistful voice he spoke in, and Kuroo felt his stomach drop.

…

“Thank you so much again,” Yachi bowed politely in front of the old man who ran a secondhand bookstore.

“Sorry to decline your offer,” the old man apologized.

“I-It’s fine!” Yachi shook her head, thanking him again before leaving the store where Hinata and Kageyama were waiting outside. The two of them had rejoined Yachi after finishing volleyball practice and clearly just threw on a different shirt and jacket over their gym shorts. ‘Tanaka and Noya won’t mind,’ Kageyama told her when she asked if they wanted time to dress up better. Not that she was extravagantly dressed in her pink jumper dress and yellow sweater that she had worn all day to class.

“So?” Hinata and Kageyama looked at her expectantly.

“Also a no,” Yachi sighed and shook her head. She was running out of places nearby to ask around and it had taken her the entire afternoon of walking and talking to people she didn’t know. Yachi was beyond tired after having to recite and fumble over the exact same spiel she had prepared.

“Do you want to check out more places? I think there’s still a whole street that we haven’t tried out,” Hinata asked.

“I think… I’m kind of done for today,” Yachi said. Hinata and Kageyama had accompanied her for hours and now, she kind of just wanted to enjoy the party with them. “I’ll try again tomorrow! Want to go the party already?” she smiled brightly. Hinata and Kageyama nodded excitedly.

With Kageyama in the lead, Hinata in the middle, playing Pokemon Go, and Yachi tailing behind to make sure Hinata didn’t bump into anything, the three of them made their way to Tanaka and Noya’s house which was so much bigger than Yachi thought it would be. Apparently Noya had a rich aunt who Noya house-sat for whenever she went on her long trips abroad. Yachi felt her stomach flutter with nervousness and excitement as she followed her friends inside.

‘It’s just a college party, just a college party. I don’t have to accept a drink or any weird substance from anyone if I don’t want to,’ Yachi told herself as her mind conjured up scenes of college and high school parties from the American movies she watched. Living rooms lit up with neon lights, beer cans and cups everywhere, people making out in every corner, guys doing what was supposed to be called a ‘keg stand’ which Yachi still couldn’t comprehend. She entered the house fully prepared with what she was going to see and was hit with a scene that she didn’t quite expect.

The living room was dimly lit with neon lights but instead of people dancing, chugging drinks, and making out, a huge group of people were huddled in front of a huge flat-screen TV that was playing karaoke, of all things. A scary-looking bald guy sang, or more like hollered, rap verses into a microphone while the people around him cheered him on. People had drinks in their hands but most of them were too busy cheering and laughing at the bald guy’s rapping. Hinata joined in and cheered.

“Tanaka-san!” he yelled. The bald guy, who was apparently named Tanaka, grinned and pointed at him.

“Hey guys! Say ‘hi’ to Hinata over there! He’s one of the best volleyball spikers next to me!” he yelled into the mic. The crowd cheered for Hinata.

“That’s our senior from our volleyball team back in high school,” Kageyama told Yachi.

“Oh, is that Kageyama?!” Tanaka yelled, much to Kageyama’s surprise.

“And we brought our friend, Yachi-san!” Hinata grinned, showing up next to Yachi and putting an arm around her. Yachi inwardly screamed when she felt all eyes on her, even when they clapped and cheered for reasons that she couldn’t comprehend either.

“S-so, this is a party,” Yachi stammered. Tanaka and went back to rapping and the three of them made their way further into the house. There was a beer pong table set up with the two players just throwing ping pong balls at each other and drinking the beer, and small groups of people talking to each other.

“Come on, let’s get a drink,” Hinata said, dragging them all down a hallway to the left. “Noya-san is probably there too playing bartender.”

“Bartender?” Yachi asked.

“He’s also from our high school volleyball team,” Kageyama added. The kitchen was almost as big as the house’s living room only with all of the lights on. A lot of people milled around the kitchen, no doubt taking advantage of the free food. Yachi wondered if this was one of the reasons why people joined parties. One of the people, a guy who was just as tall as Hinata but with brown and blonde-streaked hair that stuck up over his head, was busy mixing drinks at a counter.

“Noya-san!” Hinata greeted. Noya turned around and tackled Hinata into a hug faster than Yachi could detect it.

“Hey! You made it!” Noya grinned widely and tackled Kageyama into a hug next.

“Of course, we did!” Hinata exclaimed while Kageyama wandered off to pile slices of pepperoni pizza on his plate. “Oh, by the way, this is our friend Yachi-san. She’s helped us a lot pass our exams so we could make it to Nationals last year. Also, this is her first party.”

“N-nice to meet you,” Yachi bowed politely.

“Nice to meet the person who saved Hinata and Kageyama’s ass,” Noya grinned. “Hey, I should mix you a drink since it’s your first party”, he said, filling a blender with ice and pouring something from a bottle labeled ‘gin’ inside before Yachi could protest. The alarm bells in her head rang. ‘What if he mixes four different kinds of alcohol in it at once?’ she panicked, opening her mouth to say something until Noya added orange juice, lime soda, and the strawberry syrup that Yachi often saw in snowcone stands, to the blender. Then, he poured the slushy into a cup, added a straw, and handed it to Yachi. She gave it a tentative sniff and caught just whiff of alcohol.

“Here goes,” Yachi said, sipping the drink at first before finishing almost half the cup. It was fruity and fizzy at the same time but the added alcohol almost warmed her up from inside.

“You seem like the fruity, frozen cocktail kind of person,” Noya grinned at the obviously pleased look on Yachi’s face.

“Noya-san makes great cocktails,” Kageyama explained, suddenly appearing beside Yachi with significantly less slices of pizza on his plate.

“Make one for me! Make one for me!” Hinata waved while bouncing on the balls of his feet. Yachi giggled.

“Alright, alright,” Noya grinned and added more ice to the blender. Yachi sipped her drink and walked around the table, filling her plate with cookies that looked freshly-baked. Why someone would bring freshly-baked cookies to a party, Yachi didn’t quite know, but she was neither complaining nor thinking about what would food would count as appropriate for a dinner. She felt herself relax slightly only to find that she had finished all of her drink. Yachi wandered over to the fridge where Kageyama was shaking and opening a green bottle.

“Hey,” he said, looking up at her as she approached. “I’m not much of a fan of mixed drinks, so this one is my favorite.” The green bottle he held up had Korean writing on the label and a picture of blueberries. ‘A blueberry drink, typical Kageyama,’ Yachi thought.

“Here, you might like this,” Kageyama said, handing her another green bottle, this time with peaches on it. “Also, this stuff is pretty strong so—”

“Kageyama! Let’s play beer pong!” Hinata yelled from the living room.

“Just a minute I’m--!”

“What, are you scared?!”

Kageyama scowled and stalked off to find Hinata before he could finish his sentence. Curious, Yachi twisted open the bottle she was left with and sniffed the alcohol. Sure enough, it smelled like peaches. She sipped the drink. It tasted like peaches too.

Unaware that she was actually drinking soju at the low, alcohol tolerance she had with nothing but cookies in her stomach, she finished almost half the bottle and decided to get more.

…

After cramming what was probably his 5th paper for the week and waiting for Tsukishima’s job interview to end, Yamaguchi finally arrived at the party at his and Tsukishima’s favorite time. It was after the initial karaoke and beer pong festivities when people were still drinking and now that alcohol had fully taken effect, the partygoers were either huddled in small groups and talking about their feelings while the more hyperactive ones would be doing very weird, very video and blackmail-worthy things like worshipping a painting of a bowl of fruit. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi walked through the living room where the party hosts, Tanaka and Noya were making what was probably the worst-tasting, most alcoholic beverage they could think of in a blender, which Yamaguchi could tell had a whole slice of pizza in it. He also spotted Hinata and Kageyama at the beer pong table, busy not playing beer pong but some weird version of volleyball with a ping pong ball.

“This stuff is gold,” Tsukishima snickered, taking a video of Hinata and Kageyama who were strangely so focused in the game that they weren’t even making a noise. Yamaguhi found the entire thing strangely beautiful.

“Let’s get drinks,” he sang, skipping over to the kitchen. After cramming five papers that week, he desperately needed something that was eighty-percent vodka and twenty-percent ice. Tsukishima prowled the kitchen tables, searching until he found two untouched boxes of frosted, strawberry Poptarts. Yamaguchi chuckled and poured himself a drink, making an extra one for Tsukishima using strawberry syrup, as he watched his friend stuff his coat pockets with Poptarts. There were no rules in this party, and people could pocket as many Poptarts as they wanted.

“Wanna watch bad shark movies in Noya’s, aunt’s bedroom?” Yamaguchi grinned at his friend. They loved entering parties late, especially Noya’s parties, since they could use his aunt’s flat-screen TV with Bluetooth connector to watch bad shark movies that Yamaguchi illegally downloaded. Tsukishima’s eyes flashed.

“Let’s do it.”

45 minutes of bad CGI and equally bad dialogue later, courtesy of the movie “Sharktopus”, evidently about a shark-octopus hybrid created by scientists, Yamaguchi could tell that he and Tsukishima were both in the ‘laughing at everything’ spectrum of drunken-ness. Right now, the sharktopus was terrorizing a couple of boats in the water by pulling the passengers underwater with tentacles that looked more like really thin, black leeches. “Leechsharktopus,” Yamaguchi snickered to himself as he struggled to type on his phone keyboard. He ran a twitter account dedicated to aesthetic Sharknado quotes, basically just quotes from Sharknado movies typed in an aesthetic background, and the occasional review of bad shark movies, most of which were written while he wasn’t sober.

“Hey, I just thought…” Tsukishima slurred next to him. His pale face was flushed pink from the alcohol.

“Yeah?”

“How would Sharktopus wear his pants?”

“How _would_ Sharktopus wear his pants?” Yamaguchi repeated. “We don’t even know if Sharktopus is a boy.”

“ _Fine,_ ” Tsukishima groaned. “How would Sharktopus wear their pants?”

“I’d rather imagine them in a dress. All those tentacles, you know?”

Tsukishima frowned and took off his glasses to squint at the screen.

“You know, you could see better if you put on your glasses.”

“Sharktopus has 10 tentacles,” Tsukishima muttered, pausing the screen. Yamaguchi squinted through his haze of drunkenness and sure enough, there were 10 tentacles. “This movie is fucking inaccurate.”

“ _That’s_ what’s inaccurate?” Yamaguchi spluttered. “We’re watching a movie where scientists genetically fused the DNA of shark and an octopus.”

“Hey, genetic modification is a real thing,” Tsukishima argued. “Octopi with 10 tentacles aren’t.”

“The correct plural form is ‘octopuses’”.

“Whatever English major.”

“You—”

“Shhhh, someone’s trying to sleep.”

Yamaguchi and Tsukishima looked at each other, trying to think of a logical explanation as to where that little girl’s voice came from. “You think it’s a ghost?” Yamaguchi asked.

“If this house was haunted, Noya would have driven them out already through sheer presence,” Tsukishima said. Just then, they heard the shower in the bathroom turn on. The two of them jumped out of bed and Yamaguchi reluctantly knocked on the door.

“Hello?” he asked. The doorknob twisted to the left and Yamaguchi jumped backward from door where the same blonde girl he had helped he other day, walk out. She was drenched head-to-toe, most probably from turning on the shower, and was probably on the ‘close to passing out’ part of the drunkenness spectrum.

Tsukishima, now slightly less drunk, looked at Yamaguchi with an expression that read ‘Do something because you’re twenty-percent more sober than I am and eighty-percent better at talking to girls.’ Yamaguchi sighed and approached the blonde girl who was leaning against the door. “Hello, do you need any—”

And before he could finish, she pitched forward into Yamaguchi’s arms and passed out.

…

When Kenma received Kuroo’s call asking to hang out, he expected it would be just the two of them and Bokuto, and not the three of them plus Akaashi Keiji, the famous Instagram beauty guru, or whatever they were called since Kenma didn’t use Instagram in the first place. Based on the look on Kuroo’s face when Bokuto greeted Akaashi outside the diner, he didn’t know either and was visibly confused and slightly uncomfortable, well visible to Kenma since Bokuto was oblivious. But Kuroo was a good sport, and after Kenma learned about Akaashi’s intentions when it came to helping the diner out, and finding that Akaashi wasn’t ‘doing it for the views’ like how he knew some beauty gurus or Instagrammers were, he found that the fourth addition to their hang out wasn’t that bad.

The four of them had the entire diner to themselves after it closed for the day 2 hours ago and they sat at a table next to the wall with only one light, the one directly above them, switched on. They were eating the extra fried chicken that Kuroo and Bokuto weren’t able to sell which Kenma liked. Bokuto and Kuroo had already finished an entire six-pack of beer before Akaashi came but they were still on the border of just being tipsy.

“Hey, hey Akaashi! Have some more chicken,” Bokuto grinned, adding more fried chicken to Akaashi’s plate before they could even protest. Akaashi seemed to be the exact opposite of Bokuto, as Kenma observed because Kuroo confiscated his game console and phone so that he would socialize. They listened intently to Bokuto and Kuroo’s stories and replying to their questions in a soft-spoken voice. There was also something methodical and graceful about their movements, something so different from how impulsive and erratic Bokuto tended to be. And despite all that, Kenma could tell how attracted Bokuto was to this person.

“So, Akaasi,” Kuroo cleared his throat. “What’s it like being a Business major? I only know just enough from what my friends from college used to talk about but I’ve always been confused about what people actually do there.” Kenma snorted and tried to hide it by drinking third can of Dr. Pepper for the night which he brought to their dinner himself because Kuroo absolutely loathed the ‘cough syrup flavored drink.’

“Well, in a nutshell it’s a lot of graphs, statistics, and reading case studies,” Akaashi replied. “On the other hand, it’s a lot of arguing against die-hard capitalists in class.” Kenma snorted again but this time, didn’t even try to hide it. Akaashi shot him an amused look. “What major are you in?”

“Anthropology,” Kenma replied.

“He’s always been conscious of people so I suggested that maybe he should study it anyway,” Kuroo grinned.

“I didn’t know that I’d have to actually draw skeletons,” Kenma sighed, remembering his assignment with Tsukishima.

“And what about you, Kuroo-san?” Akaashi asked.

“Film theory,” Kuroo grinned proudly. “Something I’ve always wanted to do.”

“And I worked straight here after high school,” Bokuto piped up.

“You’ve been working here ever since you were in high school after you stalked Ukai-san for weeks,” Kuroo added. “And then he challenged you to chop half a sack of onions for a job.”

“And now my eyes don’t even water when I chop onions anymore!” Bokuto said proudly.

“I heard that some chefs put on goggles when they chop onions,” Akaashi pointed out.

“Amateurs,” Bokuto and Kuroo chorused before making a toast. On impulse, Kenma toasted Akaashi with his can of Dr. Pepper.

“Do you also come here often, Kozume-san?” Akaashi asked as soon as Kuroo and Bokuto fought over who was going to the convenience store to buy more beer and sour gummy worms, which was apparently the best thing to eat with beer to prevent hang-overs, as tested by the two of them.

“Just call me Kenma,” Kenma answered. “I come over here whenever Kuroo makes me. Which is once a week.”

“So, you’ve been to this diner in its heyday as well?”

“The food wasn’t bad but personally, it wasn’t my favorite place to go to since it was always crowded. But I’d go sometimes with Kuroo. We’ve been neighbors and schoolmates since we were little.” Kenma remembered all the times Kuroo would barge into his room, since his parents would always allow Kuroo in, even entrusting him with a spare key, and invite him to come over to eat at Bird’s Nest. Kenma protested but eventually would be bribed with apple pie or strawberry smoothies into coming. He thought at first that it was because Kuroo really liked the food when in actuality, it was also because of a certain boy, with the strangest hair Kenma had ever seen, who cooked them.

“They are quite loud, aren’t they?” Akaashi observed as the two of them watched Bokuto and Kuroo who were now loudly playing a game of rock-paper-scissors. Kenma had grown used to them doing something stupid whenever he averted his eyes for at least 5 seconds.

“You’ll get used to it,” Kenma yawned, craving caffeine to get him through the rest of the night and probably a few more hours in the early morning when he would catch up with playing games.

“Yes! I win! I win!” Bokuto hooted, pumping his fists in the air while Kuroo was either still holding up ‘rock’ or curling his hand into a fist.

“I’ll come with you,” Kenma said, following behind as Kuroo pocketed his wallet and car keys and headed for the door.

“If you think I’m buying you a strawberry slushie from the convenience store, you’re wrong. Those things have nothing but sugar, ice, and artificial coloring in them,” Kuroo argued.

“But I walked 3 kilometers today.”

“You measured that using Pokemon Go, didn’t you?”

“How else did you think I’d do it?”

…

Tsukishima was way too drunk to help accompany Yamaguchi help bring the blonde girl, who was apparently Hinata and Kageyama’s friend and still passed out, to her house, the address of which they coaxed out of her in between her waking up and passing out, as well as keeping an eye on both Hinata and Kageyama, who had both took turns vomiting into a tall vase in the living room and put up a sign on it that said ‘Vomit Here’ in an attempt to warn the others that there _was_ vomit in the vase but may instead lead them _to_ vomit in said vase. That said, since he was only the second to Yamaguchi in terms of Most Sober in Group at the moment, he lost his right to make decisions.

“Okay guys, we’ll head to the convenience store first for some water and hangover medicine, and maybe even some paper bags for those of you who will surely vomit on the way, and then bring Yachi and the rest of us home,” Yamaguchi commanded.

“Who said I was drunk?” Hinata slurred, leaning on Kageyama for support. Or was it Kageyama leaning on Hinata for support? Either way, they seemed to be supporting each other. Yamaguchi led them down the sidewalk with the girl, still fast asleep, on his back. Tsukishima patted his coat pockets to make sure his Poptarts were still there and followed last. In front of him, Hinata and Kageyama made their way unsteadily, stopping once in a while until Tsukishima prodded them forward. Tsukishima’s mouth felt like sandpaper and he tried to ignore his dinner churning in his stomach. It felt like they were walking for hours when suddenly, like a light at the end of the tunnel, the convenience store loomed into view.

“We’re here! We’re saved!” Hinata cheered, about to run ahead when Tsukishima dragged him back by his shirt collar. When he squinted at the glass, Tsukishima could see the convenience store employee inside immediately recoil at the sight of 5, clearly drunk people, probably not the first he encountered that night.

“Hold on, I’ll buy the stuff inside,” Tsukishima said, asserting his Second Most Sober in the Group dominance.

“Thanks, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi sighed in relief as he gently set down the girl he was carrying on one of the chairs outside. Hinata and Kageyama yawned and promptly fell asleep sitting on the floor while leaning against the glass of the convenience store. There was nobody but them around except for a guy who Tsukishima took 10 whole seconds to realize was Kenma. Kenma, blinked at him and his friends curiously, acknowledged Tsukishima with a nod, and went back to playing a game on his phone.

‘That’s pretty much something Kenma would do,’ Tsukishima thought, shrugging and entering the convenience store. Once inside, he grabbed as many bottles of water as he could carry under one arm, and a few bottles of hangover cure, purposely getting enough for just him, Yamaguchi, and the girl, because part of Hinata and Kageyama’s weird strengths was being able to simply sleep off a hangover. With all his stuff with him, Tsukishima got in line behind a guy with the worst case of bedhead that he had ever seen.

‘How the fuck did his hair end up like that?’ he thought, looking down to tear his gaze away from the guy’s hair, only for them to land right on the guy’s ass. Or rather, what the guy was wearing over his ass. If one were to see bedhead guy from the front, they would find that he was wearing black pants, ones that were a bit higher or tighter than usual, but still normal black pants. But if one was in Tsukishima’s position, they would find the word ‘GLAM’ in blue, sequined, all-capital letters, stitched right where his ass was.

Tsukishima snorted. ‘Is the ass supposed to be glam, or is being glam an ass?’ he said to himself. Only, when bedhead guy in front of him turned around, Tsukishima realized that in his drunken state, he actually didn’t say it out loud.

“Clearly, it is the _ass_ that’s supposed to be _glam,_ ” the guy said.

All noise seemed to have left the convenience store, every molecule of alcohol Tsukishima seemed to have left his bloodstream, at the sound of the guy’s voice. The same voice that he would listen to every Wednesday night at 12 am sharp. What was more, when he turned around, Tsukishima could clearly see bedhead guy’s shirt that had the ‘if cat wore pants, would he wear them like this? Or like this?’ meme custom-printed on it. It just so happened that Tsukishima recognized that exact same shirt because it was the only time Cat’s Pajamas took a picture of himself.

It just so happened that Tsukishima _did not_ want to meet his idol this way, with him drunk in a convenience store and started out with a comment about his ass. And it just so happened that he was sober enough not to say that he was a listener to the ‘Screams On-Screen’ podcast.

But, it just so happened that Yamaguchi had entered the convenience store right at that moment to see what was taking his friend so long because Hinata and Kageyama had resumed throwing up, and just so happened to also recognize that t-shirt because Tsukishima had scrutinized it for a week after it was posted to see if it belonged to anybody he knew. And, it just so happened that Yamaguchi was sober, but not quite sober enough to read the situation in the convenience store, and exclaimed: “Hey! You’re Cat’s Pajamas! My best friend Tsukishima Kei is your biggest fan!”

Kuroo's t-shirt: 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as you guys can probably tell from this chapter and the very detailed mentions of alcoholic drinks, i am really craving a drink outside. also karaoke. 
> 
> disclaimer: i also have no idea what business majors do or study. i don't think i even have the minimum brain cells to actually grasp what it is business majors do so if any of you guys actually study business please don't come for me i am a dumb college student


	3. a small world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by: The Power of Friendship *cue rainbows and sunshine*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hellohellohellooooo. time for a very long chapter because i did not realize i basically fused two chapters to get this Show on the Road. also i kind of went ham on the dialogue because i'm terrible at dialogue so the solution that my brain tells me to do is 'write more dialogue so they don't notice you're bad at dialogue'. also because i rehearse so many conversations by myself in the shower so they have to go somewhere

Kuroo had always dreamt of meeting a fan of his podcast in real life, often spending hours in the shower rehearsing how he’d thank them, ask about why they liked his show, and maybe even ask for tips and advice to make ‘Screams On-Screen’ better. What he didn’t consider was that he’d meet his so-called ‘biggest fan’ in a convenience store at 1 in the morning with Kuroo wearing his ‘glam’ pants, despite Kenma’s remarks that he should have gotten rid of those pants years ago. And, that his ‘biggest fan’, Tsukishima Kei, happened to be the exact same person from the Flat Earth Facebook group that he had messaged. That said, Kuroo’s immediate response to the very chaotic scenario happening in the convenience store was:

“A-aw shucks. Really?” he smiled sheepishly. “I-I mean, it’s not that great of a podcast but I’m honored.” The look on Tsukishima’s face was one of utter disbelief and embarrassment. Probably from the comment about Kuroo’s glam ass and maybe even because he didn’t expect his friend to suddenly come in. But Kuroo could definitely tell, even before Tsukishima’s friend burst in, that he recognized him. “Oh, I’m Kuroo Tetsurou by the way. But I think we have met before.”

“No way,” Tsukishima spoke, eyes widening at the realization. “You mean, _Flat Earth Kuroo Tetsurou?_ ”

“Flat Earth...?” Tsukishima’s friend asked.

“Just wait outside Yamaguchi,” Tsukishima sighed. Yamaguchi nodded and hesitantly left the two of them alone. With him gone, it was more awkward than it was before and Tsukishima shifted uncomfortably on his feet. He looked pretty young, most likely still a college student, and he had fair, blonde hair. He was taller than Kuroo by a few centimeters at most with a thin, lanky frame. Even though Kuroo knew that people who wore glasses were smart was a mere stereotype, he had a gut feeling that it applied to Tsukishima.

“So, how long have you been a listener?” Kuroo asked, to clear out the awkwardness a bit.

“Probably… since the start,” Tsukishima answered, adjusting the glasses on his nose.

“Since the start?” Now Kuroo was surprised. “Wait, don’t tell me. Are you...?”

“The guy who writes long reviews on Twitter,” Tsukishima finished, adjusting his eyeglasses again.

“Man, you really are my biggest fan,” Kuroo laughed.

“E-excuse me… sirs? Are you going to pay for those?” the store clerk piped up. He probably found the entire situation, from the glam pants until now, chaotic and awkward as was typical of Friday nights when college students went out to get drunk and eventually find themselves doing all sorts of shit in convenience stores. That surely shook Kuroo and Tsukishima out of their awkward encounter. The two of them payed for their stuff and headed out of the store, much the store clerk’s relief, only to find what seemed like the rest of Tsukishima’s friends: one of them was passed out on a chair, another was leaning against a telephone pole and throwing up, another was yelling at the very same telephone pole, and Yamaguchi, who instantly seemed like the parent of the group, doing His Very Best at getting everyone together. On one of the chairs, right where Kuroo left him, was Kenma, taking a video of everything.

“I am not bringing those two back home,” Tsukishima sighed, staring at his two friends who were by the telephone pole. Kuroo did not quite want to stop talking to his biggest fan and the one responsible for all the Twitter reviews, but he also knew that they all needed to get home, so he held up his car keys in front of Tsukishima’s face.

“I can drive you all.”

At the sound of that, Yamaguchi, who was busy trying to get the orange-haired friend to stop yelling at a telephone pole, reacted before Tsukishima did. “You will?” At the same time, Kenma looked up from his phone, saying the exact same thing.

“But, why?” Tsukishima asked.

“Because you’re my biggest fan of course!” Kuroo grinned, mussing up his hair. “Come on, my pick-up truck has enough space.”

“Thanks!” Yamaguchi grinned, managing to wrestle yelling-at-pole guy and vomiting-near-pole guy to cooperate.

“Kuroo’s truck is older than the dinosaurs by the way so sit in the very back at your own risk,” Kenma added.

“Wait, you’re friends with him?” Tsukishima pointed at Kuroo.

“And you’re friends with him?” Kuroo added. Kenma nodded, clearly the only one at peace with what was going on, well other than the passed-out blonde girl that Yamaguchi was now carrying.

“Yes, I’m friends with both of you. Yes, it’s a small world. Now, can we please go home?” Kenma groaned. Kuroo was about to pipe up and say that in addition to the world being small, the Earth may be flatter than they think but when he glanced at Tsukishima, he could tell that he was about to say the exact same thing. Instead, Kuroo kept quiet and ushered them all into his pick-up truck. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi both agreed to toss their drunkest friends, the one who yelled at the pole and the one who vomited by the pole, in the back part of the pick-up truck. Judging by the sadistic smile on Tsukishima’s face, he had been waiting to do something like this the whole night. Yamaguchi, the sleeping girl, and Kenma were in the backseat, while Tsukishima took shotgun. When Tsukishima questioned why he was shotgun and not Kenma, Kuroo just grinned and said “I want to get to know my biggest fan”, also “because Kenma’s going to hog what little air conditioner this car can produce.”

They first stopped at an apartment complex where the passed-out girl lived. Yamaguchi carried her upstairs himself, along with a small plastic bag with some water and hangover cures. “Is it just me, or is he… boyfriend material?” Kuroo said as he watched them enter the apartment building.

“He’s the only legitimately good person living in our house,” Tsukishima snorted. Up close, Kuroo could see that his eyes were a warm, golden color and that there was still a bit of flush on his cheeks from drinking.

“And you’re not a legitimately good person?” Kuroo inquired. Tsukishima looked him directly in the eye.

“Of course not. I am a guy who listens to podcasts.” Kuroo snickered.

“Point taken.” He nodded and ran his hands over the worn leather of the steering wheel. “So, what kind of guy are you Tsukishima? Other than the fact that you listen to weird podcasts and hang out at Flat Earth Society groups. And Kenma’s friend.”

“I’m an archaeology major. Second-year. Hoping to escape all the jokes about how much I ‘dig boning’. Also trying to survive my housemates hacking into my phone,” Tsukishima listed.

“Oh yeah? That explains why you ended up at Flat Earth Society,” Kuroo said. Now that the surprise had worn off, he felt Tsukishima become much more at ease. His replies were quick-witted, always bordering on the edge of sarcasm and dry humor. He talked as if he was tired of talking but nonetheless interested in the conversation.

“And you?”

“Well, I’ve graduated already but I went to Hosei. Film theory major. Other than recording podcasts at 3 am in the morning, I also work full-time at a diner.”

“You work at a diner?” Tsukishima asked, clearly surprised.

“Yup, live there too,” Kuroo nodded. “It’s called ‘Bird’s Nest’. You may have passed by it since it’s on Block 5.”

“Oh, that diner,” Tsukishima said. “It’s, not exactly popular.”

“Well, we’re working on it,” Kuroo grinned confidently. “Come by next time. I’ll treat you to a meal.” Tsukishima nodded his head and they watched as Yamaguchi emerged from the building and jogged back to the truck. They drove in silence until the pick-up truck stopped in front of another apartment complex where Tsukishima and his friends lived.

“Thanks again for the ride,” Tsukishima said before leaving the car.

“Wait, before you go,” Kuroo held out an arm before Tsukishima could shut the door. He looked him directly in the eye. “Favorite podcast episode?” Tsukishima didn’t blink, he didn’t even seem to contemplate it, before saying:

“Fear Below the Surface: Why Jaws is the Best Shark Movie.” Kuroo felt chuckled.

“I thought you’d like ‘The Mummy’ episode.”

“Because I’m an archaeology major?” Tsukishima snorted.

“Uh-huh,” Kuroo grinned. Tsukishima rolled his eyes but was unable to fully hide the smirk on his face when he closed the door. Kuroo sat in the driver’s seat, watching Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, each helping out a friend but with Tsukishima making sure that the dark-haired, vomiting-near-a-pole guy’s head was angled away from him. When they entered the building, the passenger’s seat opened and Kenma crawled in, slurping the last of the strawberry-high fructose corn syrup drink that Kuroo ended up buying for him at the convenience store.

“He seems to like you,” he said, tilting all the air conditioner vents in front to face him.

“Of course, he’s my biggest fan,” Kuroo said, driving back to bring Kenma home.

“Okay then,” Kenma said in a tone that Kuroo immediately recognized as meaning ‘sure, if that’s what you think’. Kuroo didn’t think on it much and kept driving.

…

“Apparently Kuroo met his biggest fan so he’s giving him a ride home,” Bokuto said, looking up from his phone. It explained a lot. Kuroo and Kenma had been gone a bit too long just to buy beer from the convenience store. Not that Bokuto minded because he was able to spend a bit more alone time with Akaashi.

It seemed as if they popped out of nowhere and would have a hand in sending Bokuto’s life to a completely different direction, as was his knowledge when it came to romantic comedy movies. The first time Bokuto saw Akaashi, he instantly felt that pull from his gut drawing him to them. Or maybe it was also the fact that Akaashi was drop-dead gorgeous and smart and about to save Bird’s Nest with their own two hands.

“His biggest fan?” Akaashi asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Yeah! Kuroo runs a horror movie podcast all by himself. I don’t really listen to it because horror movies scare the shit out of me but I try to add to the number of streams it has or leaving comments on it.”

“I see,” Akaashi nodded. “Well, if that’s the case I should better head home before the last buses stop running.”

“I’ll walk you!” Bokuto practically jumped in his seat. “It’s dangerous to walk by yourself out at this time. I can wait for the bus with you too.” Akaashi blinked at him in surprise and Bokuto was about to worry that he was coming on to strong only for them to smile. Bokuto felt his insides turn to mush.

“That would be nice. Thank you, Bokuto-san.”

Even though Bokuto liked to keep a regular sleep schedule, unlike his flatmate who stayed up until ungodly hours in the night, he did like to stroll the area when it was past midnight. A few pubs and karaoke bars were still open, filling the streets with colored light. A few people milled around, some up to no good and some simply having a good time, sharing stories and sitting on the sidewalks. The first time he walked around here was when Kuroo took him out for a drink after Bokuto was depressed when the last staff member in Bird’s Nest decided to leave. He had cried, drank, sang karaoke, cried and drank some more, danced, drank some more, and ran with Kuroo after being chased by some guys for something he couldn’t quite remember, only to hide in a convenience store.

“What’s on your mind, Bokuto-san?” Akaashi asked as they walked down the street.

“Huh? Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize I was spacing out,” Bokuto apologized. Akaashi looked at him as if waiting for him to continue. “Well, I was thinking about how sad everything’s been since the diner, well, became like this. But I really believe I’ll see it back to the way it once was, or maybe be even more of a success than before!” Akaashi fell silent and looked down.

“Bokuto-san, I want you to know that I will truly help Bird’s Nest to the best of my abilities. I know I said that it is a school project for me but I know how much the diner means to you and Kuroo-san so I don’t intend to take the task lightly. But I want you to know that I also have my limitations when it comes to the help I can give. I’m not exactly a fairy godmother, is what I’m trying to say,” they said.

“I know that,” Bokuto nodded. “It’s not that I think highly of you—wait, that sounds wrong. Um…”

“Take your time,” Akaashi said kindly.

“It’s like… my gut tells me that you’re the change we need. I don’t think you’re going to solve _absolutely every problem_ by yourself. But more like, I feel like you’re an important part of what’s going to change, you know?” Bokuto said, looking intently at Akaashi to show how serious he was. “But I do have an unwavering amount of faith in you.”

“Why?” Akaashi stopped walking. Bokuto shrugged and scuffed his shoes against the sidewalk.

“People always tell me I’m naïve for believing so easily in people. But I can’t really help it. And I know that part of the dedication a person will show you is because of the faith you put in them.” Bokuto looked up at Akaashi and grinned. “So, it’s kind of like a self-serving thing isn’t it?” Akaashi stared at him for two beats before resuming their walk.

“You’re an interesting guy, Bokuto-san.”

A few minutes later, the bus stop was in sight with the bus already waiting there. “This is me,” Akaashi said. “Thank you again for walking me. You have no idea the awful things people say to people like me walking alone at night.”

“Then I’ll walk you every night!” Bokuto promised. “I have all the time in the world, besides our operating hours of course.” Akaashi chuckled and Bokuto blushed.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Bokuto-san,” they said, touching Bokuto’s arm, just above his elbow. “If you believe in me so much, then I better get to work immediately.” And with that, Akaashi took off, jogging towards their bus.

“See you tomorrow,” Bokuto said softly, lingering where he was until the bus moved and drove into the night.

…

Yachi woke up at eleven in the morning with the worst headache she has ever had since the time she had to stay up for forty-eight hours straight working on a final project. “O-owww…” she groaned, holding her head as she tried to push herself up. Her mouth was so dry and her stomach felt as if it would throw up anything she ate. ‘Wait, where am I?’ she realized with a start, only to find that she was in her own bedroom, in her own house. ‘How did I end up here? Did someone bring me? How did they get into my apartment?!’ Just worrying about those things made her head hurt again and Yachi lay back down on her soft bed, finding her favorite panda plushie doll to hug while she tried to remember the events from last night.

She was in Tanaka and Noya’s party with Hinata and Kageyama. Hinata and Kageyama went to play beer pong while she was alone in the kitchen. She ended up drinking a lot of that peach-tasting alcohol which explained why she was having her very first hangover. The last thing Yachi could remember clearly was wandering into a bedroom by herself and then taking a nap somewhere. The rest of the night was fuzzy. Yachi tried to concentrate harder. And then, a face swam up to mind: the green-haired boy with freckles who helped her get the door the other day!

Yachi shot up in bed, ignoring her headache. Suddenly, she remembered that he was trying to talk to her while she was in-between passing out. Only, Yachi couldn’t exactly remember anything she said. She probably told him where her apartment was, which explained why she was here. ‘But what if I did something completely embarrassing!’ Yachi immediately panicked. ‘And he must have been so annoyed that he had to take care of me!’ She looked around her room for her phone only to find it on her nightstand along with her house key and a plastic bag from a convenience store. Stuck on the plastic bag was a strawberry milk-shaped memo note, no doubt from her own stationery table where she kept dozens of memo pads and washi tapes, that had _‘for you’_ written on it. Curiously, Yachi opened the plastic bag to find some bottled water and hangover cures inside. There was another note tacked to a bottle of water: _‘make sure to drink plenty of water and the hangover cure too. i’m not sure if you’ll feel like eating but try to have some food.’_

‘How sweet,’ Yachi felt herself smile and hugged her panda plushie tighter. She followed the directions, feeling much better after drinking the hangover cures, and walked to the kitchen, making sure to avoid the mirror in her hallway because she wasn’t ready to see all the smudged make-up on her face yet, only to find another note on the kitchen counter.

_‘Hello! It’s Yamaguchi, a friend of Hinata and Kageyama’s. I found you at the party and it seemed you needed help so I hope you didn’t mind that I brought you home. I didn’t steal any of your stuff! Promise! Well, maybe except for a few sheets of your memo pad. I hope you don’t get a terrible hangover in the morning_ _😊_ _“_

“Yamaguchi…” Yachi read. As far as she could recall, Yamaguchi was Hinata and Kageyama’s other housemate who wasn’t nearly as terrible as Tsukishima was. Based on the notes around Yachi’s house, she could tell that he was probably one of the nicest people she’s ever met. ‘I should probably give him something as thanks when I see him again,’ Yachi decided. But for now, she remembered she had to get back on track with her assignment.

After a breakfast of her favorite cereal, taking a quick shower, and freshening up, Yachi felt back to her old self again, except for a bit of a lingering headache. ‘Maybe it’ll disappear as the day comes,’ she thought, packing her bullet journal and pencil case in her bag. Hopefully she’d have a place to work with by the end of the day. Then she’d get started on her paper on Gothic designs in architecture and room furnishings. And then tomorrow she’d spend the whole day working on two more designs. Yachi sighed as she listed the growing number of tasks in her journal. While she managed to get a good 8 hours of sleep every day as a college student thanks to her planning skills, she was getting tired of having to shut herself in her place all day, bent over design after design. ‘It’s alright. If I finish early today, maybe I can record a short video for later,’ she said to herself. And with that goal in mind, Yachi headed out.

There were only a few shops and restaurants she hadn’t checked out yet in Block 5. Yachi decided to check out Bird’s Nest diner first since it was already open. “Excuse me…” she called out once she stepped into the diner. Inside, there were only two people sitting at a table, not eating but absorbed in their conversation. A tall, scary-looking, dark-haired guy was busy refilling condiments at a table and looked up when he saw her.

“Excuse me…”

“Hey, you’re that girl from last night!” the dark-haired guy grinned. Yachi felt her heart jump up to her throat.

“Last…night...?” she repeated. It was just her luck that she would have to encounter someone who saw her drunk at the first place she was going to inquire at.

“Oh, but you probably don’t remember anything because you were completely passed out,” the guy chuckled. “But you’re lucky that your friends were there to help out. Even luckier that I was there to drive all of you guys!”

“I’m so, so sorry to have inconvenienced you!” Yachi immediately apologized, bowing profusely. “I won’t drink too much peach-flavored alcohol next time!”

“I-it’s completely alright! No inconvenience there!” the dark-haired guy waved it off, smiling kindly.

“Kuroo, who’s this?” Another, equally scary-looking and tall guy with crazy, black-and-white streaked hair appeared beside him.

“U-um… I-I’m… Ya-Yachi Hitoka… a u-university st-student,” Yachi stuttered.

“Oh, are you here to do a school project?” the crazy-haired guy asked.

“How…did you know?” Yachi blinked in surprise.

“Because you’re not the first.” Another guy, this time not scary-looking but actually very, very familiar because of all the thrift shopping and clothing hacks videos that Yachi liked to watch.

“You’re, Akaashi Keiji!” Yachi grinned. “I watch your videos all the time!”

“I’m honored,” Akaashi smiled. They were even more beautiful in real life. “I also happen to follow you on Instagram. I don’t really work on a bullet journal but your videos are very calming to watch.”

“Ahh, I had no idea!’ Yachi could barely believe it.

“Is this like a meeting of the Youtubers or something?” the dark-haired guy spoke up.

“So, what’s your project?” Akaashi asked, getting back on-topic.

“Oh! I’m an interior design student and I was hoping to collaborate with a client who’s a retail space owner and propose a design for their space,” Yachi explained.

“Well, what do you think?” Akaashi asked, looking at the two other scary guys, that Yachi was starting to see as not-so scary after all, who seemed to be the owners of the diner.

“You’re hired!” they both chorused and flashed a thumbs-up, much to Yachi’s surprise.

“R-really?!”

“We already have Akaashi helping out with improving our business so another helping hand with re-designing a space makes sense,” the dark-haired guy said. “Oh, I’m Kuroo by the way. Kuroo Tetsurou. And this here is the owner, Bokuto Koutarou.”

“Nice to meet you,” Yachi bowed, still reeling from how quickly things were going.

“We’re actually having a meeting right now to go over some plans for a re-opening of Bird’s Nest,” Akaashi said.

“I’ll be making some food for us to eat,” Bokuto added. “And if you want to have a look around just go ahead!”

“Thank you!” Yachi grinned. “Is it alright if I take pictures?”

“Sure thing!”

After a few minutes of looking around and taking pictures, Yachi joined the three of them at the table where Bokuto had whipped up lunch. The spicy, soft tofu stew that he made was the best thing Yachi had ever tasted, and it helped erase what was left of her hangover. What’s more, eating with Kuroo and Bokuto was a lot like eating with Kageyama and Hinata. She could tell that the two of them had been best friends for a long time based on their bickering.

“So, Yachi-san,” Akaashi said, to continue the meeting. They had discussed adjusting operating hours to reduce the expenses on utilities, and adjusting the menu by taking out a few times and deciding to serve a special every week. Promotions for the re-opening was something that they had to work on a lot. “We’re thinking that part of the re-opening is changing the look of the space. We have a bit of budgetary restrictions when it comes to remodeling the space, however.”

“Meaning we can’t exactly replace all the furniture or, I don’t know, break in a wall,” Kuroo continued.

“I understand,” Yachi nodded. “Are there any of the retaining design elements that you want to keep?”

“Hmmm, for me the color scheme,” Bokuto said. “The dark grey, black, white, and yellow color scheme. Also! I want that picture to still remain there,” he pointed at the wall where a newspaper clipping about the diner hung.

“Of course!” Yachi said brightly. “It should be more of a wall centerpiece I think.”

“Are there any ideas that come to mind?” Akaashi asked. Yachi shifted slightly under their gaze. After all, they did have an eye for design. But Yachi convinced herself that all of those hours she spent studying color combinations and lighting were paying off.

“I was thinking of giving the main wall there a new coat of paint. But, with a blackboard finish,” Yachi started. Bokuto looked quizzically at her but let her continue. “There’s a kind of paint that leaves a blackboard-like surface when you use it. And then we can leave white and yellow chalk for the customers to use so they can write or draw stuff on the wall if they like. Lots of restaurants like to dedicate a wall or two to customer comments.”

“That’s a great idea!” Bokuto exclaimed. Yachi smiled proudly.

“It’s a bit more expensive than regular paint but we can get good use out of it. For other decorations I had the idea of incorporating the name and logo. I can make those using wire and lights to hang around the walls for a nice pop of color. Also, I think we should switch out the light bulbs.”

“The lightbulbs?” Kuroo and Bokuto asked.

“Yes, to ones with a more yellow-hued light. It may seem like a simple thing but it has a good effect and it doesn’t cost too much. The yellow lighting will offset a bit from the blackboard wall and it still retains the diner’s signature color schemes,” Yachi explained.

“We can also hang small fairy lights along the length of the ceiling and by the banner outside,” Akaashi added.

“Right. And for the tables and chairs, we don’t necessarily need to replace them but sandpaper them and add a fresh coat of varnish so they look newer. It’s a bit more labor intensive though.”

“No way! Kuroo and I can finish those in a day,” Bokuto said proudly.

“Hey, I don’t have as much muscle strength as you Bo,” Kuroo chuckled.

“Those are very good ideas, Yachi-san,” Akaashi nodded approvingly. “Do you think we can get everything done in a week.”

“I think so,” Yachi nodded. “I can start making a list of expenses by tomorrow. If you guys have any spare materials that I can use just let me know.”

“Perfect,” Akaashi said, clapping their hands together. “Well, it seems like we’ll have our work cut out for us.”

“And I can’t wait for the new Bird’s Nest diner to open!” Bokuto cheered. Yachi was flooded with relief and enthusiasm. She didn’t mention that her project just entailed designing the space on paper, but she sure was ready to help out the diner and get to work.

…

“How could you have forgotten about the essay?” “How could _you_ have forgotten about the essay?” “I was drunk last night!” “We were _both_ drunk last night!” Was Yamaguchi’s summary of Kageyama and Hinata’s Sunday, which eventually continued until lunchtime on Tuesday. Yamaguchi often ate with Tsukishima during lunch since they both worked while eating but his best friend had an assignment to cram for a different class. Which left Yamaguchi to eat with Hinata and Kageyama, which was quite exciting.

“That’s why you should both get started on it already,” he advised. “I’ll even help out if you want.”

“You truly are the only nice person living in our house,” Kageyama said, in his own strange way of apologizing.

“Don’t mention it,” Yamaguchi chuckled.

“If we get Yachi-san to help too, we can finish right before the deadline and get at least a 50-percent score!” Hinata exclaimed. Yamaguchi felt a small smile creep on his lips at the mention of the cute, blonde girl from the party. ‘I hope she was able to cure her hangover. It seemed like she really drank a lot,’ Yamaguchi thought, thinking back to the notes he left. Just then, as if a god nearby was answering his prayers, that very same girl appeared near their lunch table.

“Yachi-san!” Hinata cried.

“Y-Yamaguchi-san,” Yachi spoke, her eyes landing on him. Yamaguchi felt the back of his neck grow warm. “U-um, I…”

“Do you know each other?” Kageyama asked, looking between the two of them. “Oh, right. You were there at the party too. You helped bring her home.”

“Right,” Yamaguchi nodded, shaking himself out of his stupor. “How was… the hangover, Yachi-san?”

“It faded after a while,” Yachi smiled and sat down across Yamaguchi.

“We’re so sorry we didn’t get to watch out for you!” Hinata apologized. “It was your first party and everything.”

“It’s okay! It’s okay!” Yachi shook her head. “I didn’t really know that the peach-flavored drink was that strong and I ended up drinking so much of it.”

“You got her into peach soju, didn’t you?” Hinata narrowed his eyes at Kageyama who shrugged.

“I’m sorry for inconveniencing you most of all, Yamaguchi-san,” Yachi apologized, looking right at him. Her bangs today were pulled back with a star-shaped clip and matching light blue hair pins.

“It’s alright. You mostly slept through everything,” Yamaguchi chuckled. “It was Kageyama and Hinata who caused the most trouble.”

“We love you Yamaguchi,” Hinata and Kageyama chorused.

“Right, what are you two cramming for this week?” Yachi asked, changing the subject.

“We have to write an essay on the book prescribed for class. And, we haven’t even started reading it,” Kageyama said. “It’s due on Thursday.”

“I see,” Yachi nodded. “I don’t have much time this week to help but I can check your drafts,” she offered. “I was actually able to pair up with a diner for my project so I’ll be working with them this week. But if you want, you can come over during lunchtime tomorrow. Their food is really good.”

“I’m good with it,” Hinata said. Kageyama nodded in agreement.

“Oh, I can help out if you need also,” Yamaguchi offered. “I don’t have papers to write this week and I just need to finish five books.”

“Five books?! I can barely even read one,” Hinata moaned.

“That sounds like a lot, I can already feel my head spinning,” Yachi said weakly.

“It’s alright. I can read about two pages per minute and if I have to about read two-thousand pages I can cram it in sixteen hours,” Yamaguchi grinned.

“You calculated it…?” Yachi looked at him with wide eyes.

“Every literature major knows their reading rate,” Yamaguchi answered.

The next day, Yamaguchi and Kageyama went ahead to the Bird’s Nest diner. Hinata stayed behind to finish reading the book in the library, after getting frustrated that Kageyama managed to get ahead, and would catch up later in the afternoon. Once he was there, Yamaguchi immediately noticed Kuroo Tetsurou, aka Cat’s Pajamas, aka Tsukishima’s favorite podcaster, aka the very kind man who gave them all a ride home last Friday, actually worked there. Aside from him sanding down tables outside, it was Yachi who greeted them at the door. She was wearing what looked like a long raincoat over her blue dress and had a dragonfly clip in her hair this time.

“Thanks for coming guys!” Yachi smiled. “I just have to finish painting some wall hangings but I’ll meet you guys in a bit.”

“Well, well,” Kuroo appeared, wiping sweat from his brow. “If it isn’t Tsukki’s best friend and the guy vomiting near the pole.”

“You vomited near a pole?” Kageyama frowned at Yamaguchi.

“You know you got it completely wrong,” Yamaguchi deadpanned.

“It’s alright, both of you are welcome here,” Kuroo laughed, ushering them inside the restaurant. Where there were two more people sanding tables and peeling off paint from the back wall.

“Um, is now a bad time?” Yamaguchi asked.

“Nah, we’re just doing a bit of remodeling here,” Kuroo said. “Hey Bokuto! We have some customers! Friends of Yachi,” he yelled. The guy sanding a table, who had black-and-white streaked hair and a muscular physique looked up excitedly at them.

“Alright! Welcome to Bird’s Nest Diner where we are obviously remodeling but still happy to accept customers,” he grinned. There was something about him that quickly gained Yamaguchi’s affection. He and Kageyama sat down at one of the un-sanded tables and ordered lunch. Kageyama, of course, ordered enough for five people.

“So, where’s Hinata?” Yachi asked, sitting at the table. She had removed her raincoat and set it to the side.

“He had to finish the book,” Kageyama said through a mouthful of rice. Yamaguchi sighed at him.

“How’s the remodeling going, Yachi-san?” Yamaguchi asked.

“A bit slower than I expected since we’re a bit short on hands,” Yachi admitted. “Only Bokuto and Kuroo are able to work full time since me and Akaashi over there have class.”

“Didn’t you say that you only had to provide a design idea for the final project?” Kageyama asked. “You don’t really have to help remodel the space.”

“That’s true, but…” Yachi moved in closer to them and lowered her voice. “I ended up really wanting to help out. Bokuto-san over there has apparently worked here ever since he was in high school. Apparently, this place used to be really popular until it switched owners and the new one ran it to the ground. Now it’s just Bokuto and his friend Kuroo working here. They seem like good people and their food looked really good so I just wanted to help out,” she smiled.

“Their food is really good,” Yamaguchi agreed, pointing his spoon at his plate of katsudon. “And the owners seem really nice too.” In the middle of the diner, Bokuto was kneeling in front of a table and was very intent in sanding it down. Judging by the sweat on his clothes and how tired, but happy, he looked, Yamaguchi could tell he had been sanding for quite some time. In front of him, Kageyama contemplatively eyed the interior of the diner.

“If I finish writing the first part of my essay, I can help out for an hour or two,” he said. Yamaguchi smiled at him, feeling a bit like a proud parent.

“Me too,” he agreed. Yachi brightened and clapped her hands together.

“Thank you so much! Bokuto and the rest would be thrilled!” she exclaimed.

After an entire hour of Kageyama exerting his brain cells into the first few paragraphs of his essay that Yamaguchi and Yachi approved of, they helped out with sanding more tables, which was just as tiring as Yamaguchi imagined. Yachi and Akaashi, who was probably the most beautiful person Yamaguchi had ever seen, worked on creating intricate wall hangings using wire and strings of lights. Despite how much his fingers ached from the sandpaper, Yamaguchi did feel pleased at seeing the results of the smooth, sanded tables. If they managed to get Hinata on-board, and they would easily be able to do that, things would go much faster.

Yamaguchi then wondered if his best friend could be swayed too. ‘After all,’ Yamaguchi thought, somewhat deviously, ‘he is Kuroo’s biggest fan.’ And with that, Yamaguchi took out his phone and typed a quick message.

[to: jurassic park nerd]

(4:00 pm) _Tsukki_

(4:00 pm) _come over to bird’s nest diner_

(4:00 pm) _the one kuroo-san (your favorite podcaster) works at_

(4:00 pm) _we’re helping them remodel the diner :D_

(4:20 pm) _if you don’t come over i’m telling him about how you spent an entire week staring at a picture of his chest_

(4:20 pm) _see you Tsukki! :D_

…

Tsukishima glared at the text Yamaguchi just sent him after he left his Ancient Eastern Civilizations class with Kenma beside him. It felt as if it was just yesterday that Yamaguchi was his timid, old self from high school and now he has grown to be such a sassy adult. Tsukishima felt his cheeks burn at the reminder that he had met Cat’s Pajamas, aka Kuroo Tetsurou, last Friday in a convenience store and that he had given him a ride home. There was a weird feeling in Tsukishima’s chest, not one of disappointment, even though he didn’t expect that Cat’s Pajamas was the kind of person who wore ‘glam pants’, but kind of like a ‘what now?’ sentiment. The downside to idolizing someone after all is finally meeting them and seeing that they’re just an ordinary person. Although, Kuroo felt anything but ordinary.

“So, how was meeting Kuroo for the first time?” Kenma asked, making Tsukishima flinch slightly at how he was able to read his thoughts. “I know he’s been running a podcast for quite some time but I didn’t know you were a listener.”

“Well,” Tsukishima cleared his throat. “He’s… something else.”

“I know. I keep telling him not to wear those pants,” Kenma said. “And he’s always showing up in places where you don’t want him to be, specifically my house back when we were kids. And he’s always calling instead of texting. And he makes the weirdest sandwiches,” he continued.

“I-I see,” Tsukishima nodded, amused by the fact that this was probably the most he had heard Kenma talk, other than when he was ranting about Professor Shimada’s assignments, and because of all the things he was learning about Kuroo. As soon as they were outside the building where a bunch of students were streaming out to get to their next class or head home, they were greeted by none other than the devil himself, Kuroo Tetsurou who Tsukishima prayed to God was wearing normal pants, and the devil’s henchman, Hinata Shoyo. Tsukishima and Kenma probably sighed at the same time at the sight of them.

“Tsukki! Kenma!” Kuroo grinned and waved at the two of them.

“Why are you here?” Tsukishima narrowed his eyes at Hinata.

“Kageyama and Yamaguchi are helping out at Kuroo-san’s diner so I was going to come along,” he answered.

“So, I figured I’d pick you and Kenma up,” Kuroo added. He and Hinata fist-bumped and Tsukishima had the creeping realization that the two of them were probably cut from the same cloth and put on Earth for the simple task of annoying the hell out of Tsukishima.

“Also,” Hinata hopped off the hood on the pick-up truck where he was sitting and leaned in close to Kenma. “You’re Kenma right? From Pokemon Go?”

“And in real life,” Kenma said, inching away from Hinata. “And you’re Charmander Explosion Master.”

“What are you, a middle-schooler?” Tsukishima scoffed.

“It’s cool!” Hinata argued.

“You look just like your avatar,” Kenma said.

“Okay kids, let’s all go to the diner together because those tables aren’t going to sand themselves,” Kuroo said, opening his car door. “Stay in the back Kenma,” he added, just as Kenma was about to take the shotgun seat. Kenma pouted, like a kid whose mother told him off, but obeyed. Kuroo grinned at Tsukishima from behind the front window and he took it as a sign that he was going to sit shotgun.

“Buckle your seatbelts,” Kuroo said after switching on the engine.

“We’re not twelve Kuroo,” Kenma protested.

“Seatbelts.”

“Fine.”

Tsukishima buckled himself in, earning an approving look from Kuroo, and quickly answered Yamaguchi’s text. Behind him, Hinata instantly started talking Kenma’s ear off about Pokemon Go.

“So,” Kuroo spoke up, glancing at Tsukishima. “It’s Wednesday night again.” Tsukishima raised his eyebrows.

“Any chance you’ll let me have an early sneak-peek?” he joked. Kuroo chuckled, his deep voice ringing through the car.

“Wouldn’t you like that? In all honesty, I would let you have a sneak peek. But the thing is, I actually haven’t started recording the episode.” Tsukishima looked at him in surprise.

“No way.”

“Yes, Tsukki! Your favorite podcaster is in fact… a crammer,” Kuroo exclaimed. “Well, I’m actually cramming a lot more now since we’ve been working a lot at the diner.”

“I still think it’s a wonder how you’re able to produce an episode per week with all that research and writing,” Tsukishima said. “And not to mention having to write the entire script.”

“Well, you get a bit used to it once you work on it for a while,” Kuroo shrugged. “I’m mostly happy that I have a decent mic to use now.”

“And not have to edit out background noise,” Tsukishima added. Kuroo raised his eyebrows and smiled with a corner of his lip turned up.

“You remembered.”

“Been there from the start,” Tsukishima muttered, unsure if he wanted Kuroo to hear it. Luckily for him, they had pulled up in front of the diner where Kageyama and a guy that Tsukishima didn’t know was busy sanding a table.

“Kageyama!” Hinata exclaimed, running up to the storefront.

“Dumbass, you’re late,” Kageyama greeted. The two of them went into their usual bickering while Kenma tried to slink away, only to be stopped by Kuroo.

“Young man, you’ll be helping out with some decorations,” Kuroo said and looked over his shoulder at Tsukishima. “Come on in you two. We could use a few extra hands.” Inside, Yamaguchi was hanging up wall decorations beside none other than the drunk, blonde girl they helped out last Friday. He smiled smugly at Tsukishima when he entered, no doubt glad that his threat worked. Tsukishima answered back by pointedly looking at the blonde girl next to him with a look that said ‘I can see why you’re helping out here in the first time.’ Yamaguchi blushed and Tsukishima relished his tiny victory.

But he didn’t get to enjoy it for long once he was put to the task of replacing all the lightbulbs on the low-hanging light fixtures in the restaurant. A job that he knew was given to him because he was the Tallest Guy There. Kuroo, whose job was to help the blonde girl, who he soon found out was named Yachi, with re-arranging the tables to maximize the floor space, was always in his field of vision.

“I’m more out of shape than I thought,” Kuroo panted, leaning by a table where Tsukishima was changing a lightbulb. ‘You’re probably more in-shape than the rest of us,’ Tsukishima wanted to say, except for the fact that he didn’t want to bring up that he indirectly talked about Kuroo’s ass last Friday night. “How are the lightbulbs coming along?”

“Well, I’ve thought of a billion ‘how many blanks does it take to screw on a lightbulb’ jokes already, but nothing else is new,” Tsukishima shrugged. Kuroo laughed and Tsukishima quirked a small smile.

“Thanks again for helping out, by the way. I know you probably did that because you love me so much but you really didn’t have to go that far.”

“Unfortunately, that love is conditional and highly dependent on the episode you may or may not be able to cram later,” Tsukishima said, without missing a beat.

“Ah, then I guess,” Kuroo stood up and plucked the lightbulb that Tsukishima just unscrewed from his hand. “That love is pretty much guaranteed.”

Tsukishima felt his face flush and swiped the lightbulb from Kuroo’s hand to hide it. Did he just, flirt with him? And worst of all, ‘Did I just flirt back?’ he thought. Luckily, Kuroo didn’t seem to notice.

“You know, it’s really funny. It started out with just me, Bokuto, and Akaashi working on the place. Then Yachi came in, and now everyone else,” Kuroo said with a soft, tenderness in his voice. “With luck, all this work will pay off and we’ll have a bustling diner in no time. And then, I don’t know, give you guys a year’s worth of free fried chicken as payment.”

Tsukishima looked over to where Hinata and Kageyama were having a table-sanding contest with Yamaguchi animatedly talking to Yachi while they hung up wall decorations. “I don’t think people are here for the fried chicken,” Tsukishima said. “I guess when one person decided to help out, the others came along and now you have this.”

“The beauty of altruism,” Kuroo sighed contentedly. “And from my biggest fan!”

“Hey, that’s them, not me,” Tsukishima smirked. “I’m here for a sneak peek of the next podcast episode.” Kuroo pouted.

“I guess you are a stickler. You and Kenma both. I had to bribe him with strawberry shakes.”

After an hour more of working, and a free dinner courtesy of Bokuto and Kuroo, which everyone loved because free food was the one thing college students loved the most, the group decided to split up for the night. Tsukishima, Kenma, Yamaguchi, Hinata and Kageyama headed to a nearby café to finish homework while Yachi and Akaashi decided to head home after spending an entire day working at the diner. While Yamaguchi helped Hinata and Kageyama power through their essays, Tsukishima and Kenma squinted at blurry pictures of excavation sites, trying to identify what kinds of bones were there until they finally decided to call it quits for the night and head home. It was either that or, Kenma was aware that Tsukishima wanted to get home and listen to Kuroo’s new episode. At this point, Tsukishima knew that Kenma was fully aware of that.

After doing his usual ritual of quickly changing into his pajamas, grabbing his headphone, and lying on his bed, Tsukishima gave the episode a listen. The episode was about ‘American Psycho’, a movie that Tsukishima had put off watching for a while until the ‘Screams On-Screen’ teaser. And Tsukishima always watched the movies that the podcast recommended. For an episode that was apparently recorded a few hours ago before the release, it didn’t sound like one. But after witnessing how Kuroo talked, and dare Tsukishima say, flirted, in real life, he wasn’t surprised at how effortless Kuroo sounded. Tsukishima wouldn’t even be surprised if all the parts he heard before were _really good adlib_ were _actual adlib._ And the content of the episode, which was a continuation of the series Kuroo started, was well-written, as always.

And now it came to the matter of whether Tsukishima would write his usual lengthy Twitter review. It’s not that he couldn’t think of anything to say, it’s that he already knew the person he was writing them for and he didn’t know if it would make things awkward. But then, maybe Kuroo wasn’t the type who would find it awkward.

In the middle of his internal debate, Tsukishima received a message from none other than the podcast writer himself.

[from: ur favorite person (next to yamaguchi)]

(12:23 am) _so?_

[to: ur favorite person (next to yamaguchi)]

(12:23 am) _so?_

(12:23 am) _also what’s with the nickname?_

[from: ur favorite person (next to yamaguchi)]

(12:23 am) _why? not accurate?_

[to: ur favorite person (next to yamaguchi)]

(12:24 am) _that spot is actually reserved for steven spielberg_

[from: ur favorite person (next to yamaguchi)]

(12:24 am) _ah, jaws director. i get it_

(12:24 am) _can i at least be your third favorite person?_

[to: ur favorite person (next to yamaguchi)]

(12:24 am) _not even close_

[from: ur 37th favorite person]

(12:25 am) _how’s that?_

[to: ur 37th favorite person]

(12:25 am) _better_

[from: ur 37th favorite person]

(12:25 am) _sososososososoo_

(12:25 am) _did you like the latest episode?_

(12:26 am) _sounds pretty good for something recorded two hours ago_

[to: ur 37th favorite person]

(12:26 am) _fine yeah. it was good._

(12:26 am) _i actually didn’t enjoy the movie that much compared to others but i liked it once i heard the episode_

[from: ur 37th favorite person]

(12:26 am) _awwwwww_

(12:27 am) _you honor me too much tsukki_

[to: ur 37th favorite person]

(12:27 am) _clearly i do_

[from: ur 37th favorite person]

(12:27 am) _if you wanna honor me a bit more_

(12:27 am) _how ‘bout a twitter thread?_

[to: ur 37th favorite person]

(12:28 am) _wow, you want even more praise?_

[from: ur 37th favorite person]

(12:28 am) _it’s not the praise_

(12:28 am) _i genuinely like reading your twitter reviews_

(12:28 am) _i like knowing exactly how people think about the content i put out_

[to: ur 37th favorite person]

(12:29 am) _fine_

(12:29 am) _give me 3 minutes_

[from: ur 37th favorite person]

(12:29 am) _ur the best, tsukki <3 _

Tsukishima found himself staring at his phone keyboard for a good ten seconds before finally typing something. He thought it would be much harder to write a review for the week’s episode but somehow, the thought of Kuroo smiling like an idiot at his phone made typing it out much easier.

…

While Kuroo was one who adhered to sleeping at ungodly hours of the night, he knew that Bokuto wasn’t, which made the sound of kitchen noises downstairs at one in the morning all the more a point of investigation for Kuroo. And sure enough, standing in the center of the rows of burners in the kitchen, bent over stirring something in a pot, was Bokuto. Kuroo allowed himself not to be seen just so he could watch his best friend work his magic, energy and excitement radiating off of him while he was completely absorbed in what he loved doing.

There was always something about Bokuto that instantly drew people to him. All throughout the rest of the week, Akaashi, Yachi, Tsukishima and his friends finished the interior remodeling of the new Bird’s Nest diner just in time to move its re-opening to Sunday. A good portion of that week was also spent on promotions: making and distributing flyers, and social media posts announcing the re-opening of the diner and a promo for the special day. In those few days, Bokuto had made quick friends of all of them, even Tsukishima who would occasionally smile at something he said, which was a lot considering it was coming from Tsukishima. Just earlier, all of them had gathered in front of the diner for a group selfie to commemorate the day. Maybe it was just Kuroo romanticizing the entire situation because of how he felt for Bokuto, but he would argue that not just anyone would be able to get free labor from college students.

“Hey, Kuroo. You’re here,” Bokuto said, finally noticing that Kuroo was standing by the kitchen door.

“I could hear the commotion,” Kuroo said, walking over to where Bokuto was and putting an arm around his shoulder. He knew that Bokuto probably didn’t think much of the gesture, heck, he probably didn’t even register the way Kuroo would sometimes hold his hand, or ruffle his hair, or slightly touch his elbow. But for Kuroo, it was comforting to feel his warmth.

“I was working on a new seasoning for the miso soup,” Bokuto said. “I kind of wanted to make something a touch spicier since it’s almost winter. And you know what Ukai-san liked to say.”

“’Always have soup ready during winter, especially for free refills,’” the two of them quoted. Bokuto laughed.

“I miss him. Well, I miss all of them,” he said. “Do you think any of them might come back once we’re popular again?”

“I’m sure they will Bo,” Kuroo grinned and ruffled Bokuto’s hair.

“But even if not all of them come back, I’m glad you’ll still be around,” Bokuto turned around, fixing Kuroo to the spot with his warm, golden eyes. “I don’t think I could have kept this place barely running if you weren’t.”

Kuroo felt his chest constrict. He wanted more than anything to say that Bokuto was the reason Kuroo was here in the first place, that it was always Bokuto that drew Kuroo to come to the diner in the first place. That seeing all the love in Bokuto’s face when he was in the kitchen was what made Kuroo even pursue his dream of starting ‘Screams On-Screen’ even though he knew a podcast about horror movies wasn’t really going to set him on the road to financial stability. Kuroo liked to think that he exuded the same kind of passion Bokuto did whenever he was writing his scripts, scribbling notes and sticking them on his wall, and recording his podcast episodes.

Instead, Kuroo laughed. “Where else am I going to stay that’s rent-free?”

“You literally live twenty minutes away!” Bokuto argued.

The next day, was judgement day for Bird’s Nest diner. Kuroo knew that it may be impossible that they’d get the place fully-packed, but he told himself that if they got at least twenty tables for that night, it would be a good re-opening night. But when he looked at Bokuto and Akaashi, who had volunteered to man the cash register, he could tell that he was the only one panicking. Bokuto, among the three of them, was the most confident.

“Well,” he said, once the clock hit 7 pm. “Moment of truth.” With a nod, he signaled Kuroo to open the doors. Once outside, Kuroo felt his jaw drop. For the first time in a long time, there was a line outside the diner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soooooo i hope you guys enjoyed that extra long chapter. it may take a bit of time for the ships to finally get together but i really want to squeeze in a lot of fun moments as a whole, dumb, single-braincelled (well, except for yachi who has a healthy amount of brain cells but some of them have probably been fried by her nerves) organism. but yeah, thank you for the sweet comments so far and i hope you look forward to the next chapters!


	4. catching momentum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by: Apollo Candies and freshly-baked cookies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello hello!! so, this chapter is a bit more like a filler episode. it steers the plot a bit but i wanted to focus on some of their interactions as a dumb friend group. also, in case y'all didn't read some of the tags (because it is a Mess), this is going to be pretty slow burn, especially when it comes to kurotsukki. but i'll try not to disappoint and make it all worth it :)

During the last few days they spent promoting the restaurant, Akaashi, Yachi, and Yamaguchi, who owned an aesthetic sharknado quotes twitter account that surprisingly had more followers than both of them, agreed to use their social media presence to help promote the diner. Akaashi also volunteered to help manage the cash register but was unaware that they would be there, working non-stop the entire night as Bird’s Nest flooded with diners. Even Kuroo seemed caught off-guard but managed to wait on tables, shout orders, and serve drinks throughout the night. Among the three of them, it was Bokuto who was in his element, the one who was not surprised at all when diners flooded in. Food flew out of the kitchens with diners not having to wait more than fifteen minutes for their orders.

And every once in a while, Bokuto would leave the kitchen and thank the diners for coming on re-opening night. To Akaashi’s surprise, the diners would respond with cheers and thank you’s. It was nothing like Akaashi had ever seen before and that night, they began to truly understand what Bird’s Nest means to Bokuto, and what Bokuto means to it. He was basically the heart and soul of the place, and Akaashi swore, regardless of the fact that his thesis partially relied on the success of this business, knew that this was something they wanted to protect.

“Woohoo, that was amazing!” Bokuto cheered, pumping his arms in the air when the last of the diners left and they closed down Bird’s Nest for the night. “I haven’t cooked that fast in ages!” Akaashi was slumped in a chair with Kuroo beside them, both of them wiped out for the night and for some reason, out of breath.

“That sure was something,” Akaashi chuckled as they watched Bokuto continue to dance around. “Is he always like this?” they asked Kuroo.

“Back then, yeah,” Kuroo answered. “And like he said, the diner used to be packed like this, though maybe a little more.”

“Well, it’s a start,” Akaashi nodded. Just then, they heard the door open. Akaashi, being wiped out and wanting to just go home and take a long bath, instantly stood up. “Sorry, we’re closed for the night,” they said, only to find that the people who entered were Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Yachi.

“You guys! You guys!” Bokuto waved his hands in the air. “You missed the diner being packed.”

“More like we wanted to check in, saw the line, and decided to wait it out,” Tsukishima said, taking a seat beside Akaashi.

“We’re so proud of you guys,” Yachi grinned. “I was worried that I didn’t make the colors on the flyers saturated enough so it wouldn’t be eye-catching.”

“You had nothing to worry about Yachi,” Akaashi smiled softly and patted her shoulder. Over the past few days, they had grown fond of the girl, more like in a sisterly way. And when Akaashi looked at how nice the diner looked after being remodeled, they knew that Yachi would go far in life.

“You guys hungry? We still have some soup stock and breaded chicken to make something quickly,” Bokuto said.

“Someone hasn’t gotten over the high yet,” Kuroo grinned.

“Dinner sounds great!” Yamaguchi piped up.

“Dinner for six, coming right up,” Bokuto winked and ran back into the kitchen. As quickly as he served the other diners, Bokuto came back with enough food for the six of them. Over dinner, he recounted the crazy things that happened in the kitchen while everything was going on outside: how he chopped almost a kilo of onions in a few minutes, how he almost burned his hand with hot oil but his lightning-fast reflexes saved him, how he almost mixed up a few orders but corrected them quickly. Akaashi couldn’t help but feel at home while listening to him and watching his animated hand movements, sound effects, and the way his eyes shone with excitement.

All throughout their time at college, Akaashi didn’t make a single friend. A couple of acquaintances maybe, but not a friend. It worried their father to no end, especially when he noticed how Akaashi was always home early. But sitting here now in the diner reminded them of what they had been missing all along.

“Well, as happy as this was, there are still dishes to wash,” Bokuto said, standing up to clear the table.

“Maybe if we can keep people coming, we can make enough money to pay for a busboy,” Kuroo suggested.

“I’ll help out,” Akaashi volunteered, standing up to clear the table.

“It’s a lot of dishes,” Bokuto warned him.

“I have a lot of time,” Akaashi smiled.

“Knock yourselves out, you two,” Kuroo chuckled. Sure enough, there were a lot of dishes piled up at the sink, but Akaashi pulled their sleeves up nonetheless and helped Bokuto out. And since it was Bokuto, the kitchen was not quiet.

“This reminds me of the first time I worked here,” he chuckled. “This was my favorite place to eat at since I was a kid and when I was in my first year of high school, I knocked on the back door and asked for a job. Ukai-san laughed at me until he realized I was serious and stuck me on dish duty.”

“I can’t imagine you preferred staying there,” Akaashi smiled wryly, imagining a younger Bokuto, perhaps without the white streaks in his hair, standing on a stool and washing the dishes.

“I didn’t, so I became really, really good at washing dishes so Ukai-san would rank me up,” Bokuto said. “Then next I was a busboy, then a waiter…”

“… And then Ukai-san made you chop a whole lot of onions before allowing you to cook,” Akaashi continued. Bokuto grinned.

“You remembered.”

“I did, Bokuto-san.”

“And then I became a damn good cook,” Bokuto finished.

“That sounded like a lot of work,” Akaashi said. “How were you able to balance school and work?”

“Oh, I didn’t go to college,” Bokuto said, smiling sheepishly. “I graduated from high school and worked here immediately. But, yeah, never went to college.”

“That’s admirable of you,” Akaashi smiled reassuringly. Bokuto glanced at him in surprise. “I know people say that college is a big deal but it’s just something you attend when there’s something you want to continue to study. The fact that you already knew what you wanted to do and chose to pursue it is admirable.”

“I’m glad you think that,” Bokuto smiled back. “My father kind of got mad that I didn’t apply for college, or even culinary school, but I was able to get him to understand eventually. Though sometimes, I wonder what would have happened if I had gone to school.”

“I think that if you had, Bird’s Nest wouldn’t be here today,” Akaashi said. “And you wouldn’t have grown to be friends with Kuroo-san, and later Yachi-san and her friends. And, you wouldn’t have met me.”

Bokuto looked at him and smiled warmly. “I’m glad that I stayed then.”

…

Kuroo, who was standing by the kitchen doors hoping to get an extra glass, had eavesdropped enough on Bokuto and Akaashi’s conversation to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew very well that he could face this uneasiness head on by going inside and confirming for himself that nothing was going on between Bokuto and Akaashi but that would entail confirming the possibility that something _was_ going on between the two of them. And so, Kuroo avoided it, and chose to bother Tsukishima, who was scrolling through his phone at the table.

“Looking for more Facebook groups to mess around with?” Kuroo asked, sitting right in front of Tsukishima.

“Last time I checked, that was your hobby,” he answered, raising an eyebrow at Kuroo who couldn’t help but chuckled. He liked how their conversations would end up as more of a debate or some strange form of bickering.

“Hey, like it or not, some of my best zingers came from obscure Facebook groups,” Kuroo protested.

“You call them ‘zingers?’” Tsukishima snorted.

“I bet you call them ‘funny bits,’” Kuroo raised his eyebrows. Tsukishima said nothing but glanced to his left, indicating that Kuroo was right. He smiled broadly. “When’s your birthday?” he asked.

“My birthday?” Tsukishima narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “You’re not trying to find out my zodiac sign, are you?” Kuroo said nothing. “Oh god, please don’t tell me you actually believe in that astrology crap.”

“Hey, it’s not crap. It’s a legitimate form of knowledge that has existed for thousands of years based on patterns and charting the stars,” Kuroo argued.

“Now I’m starting to doubt that you joined the Flat Earth group just to mess with the people there.”

“That’s completely different,” Kuroo shook his head. “Flat Earthers are going against actual scientific evidence but I’ve yet to meet a Pisces that’s actually a decent person.”

“That’s what Yamaguchi also says,” Tsukishima smirked. “Fine, if you really must know, my birthday is this Friday.”

“No way,” Kuroo put his hands down on the table. “You’re a Libra? Well, that’s not much of a surprise considering how you are.”

“And how am I?” Tsukishima raised his eyebrow.

“Snarky, witty, sarcastic, not adept with feelings,” Kuroo said without missing a beat. Tsukishima shrugged.

“Nothing I don’t know. What are you then? A Pisces?”

“Close,” Kuroo said. “A Scorpio. Dark, mysterious, very flirtatious.”

“Annoying?” Tsukishima added. Kuroo clutched his chest.

“Tsukki, you wound me.”

“You’re quite the drama queen,” Tsukishima observed.

“That’s part of being a Scorpio,” Kuroo winked. “Sounds like we’ll never get along.” Tsukishima looked up and smiled wryly.

“For once I agree.”

“Hey, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi stood up. “It’s almost eleven.” Tsukishima stashed his phone in his pocket.

“Right,” he yawned. “Time to get back to work.”

“Why do you have to get to work at eleven?” Yachi asked.

“Don’t tell me…” Kuroo gasped. “Tsukki, are you a pole dancer?”

“What? No!” Tsukishima flushed. “I work at the small movie theater near our campus.”

“Pole dancer Tsukki,” Yamaguchi snickered under his breath. Tsukishima glared at him.

“Hey, what if I give you a ride?” Kuroo offered. Aside from the opportunity to bug Tsukishima more, he was reluctant to stay around the diner. “I’d like to visit the place sometime and it isn’t safe to walk around at night. I can drop you guys off on the way too,” he told Yamaguchi and Yachi.

“No thanks—”

“We’d love to!” Yamaguchi interrupted his best friend. Tsukishima glared but neither Yamaguchi nor Kuroo paid him any mind.

“Alright, all aboard then,” Kuroo grinned. The four of them loaded into the pick-up truck. Kuroo noticed how Yamaguchi purposely beat Tsukishima to the backseat, leaving him to sit in front with Kuroo and chuckled. Tsukishima pointedly looked at Kuroo as he fastened his seatbelt and he smiled back in appreciation. After dropping Yachi and Yamaguchi off in their respective apartments, the routes he remembered from a very, important Friday night, Kuroo and Tsukishima were alone in the car.

“Is this it?” Kuroo asked as he pulled up in front of another convenience store. The floor on top had a tarpaulin sign with the theater’s name, ‘Corner Cinema’, printed on it.

“Yep,” Tsukishima nodded. “It’s a small movie theater that shows around six movies a day. Most of them are indie films but they get their hands on a few good classic films.”

“Horror films?” Kuroo asked. Tsukishima smiled.

“Horror films.”

“I should come by some time then,” Kuroo said.

“Only if you don’t bother me at the ticket booth,” Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

“Oh, but I will Tsukishima,” Kuroo grinned. Tsukishima unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door.

“Thanks again for the ride.”

“Don’t mention it,” Kuroo shrugged. He was about to offer to pick him up after his shift, maybe even do the same thing on the next night Tsukishima had to work, because Kuroo didn’t sleep very early and it would be no trouble for him. But for some reason, saying that felt like approaching a territory Kuroo was uncertain of breaching. And with that, Tsukishima shut the door and Kuroo was alone in his car. He looked out the window, watching Tsukishima walk up the stairs along the side of the building, and only drove away when Tsukishima was inside.

…

Hinata hated midterm exams. It got in the way of everything he liked doing: volleyball training, lunch with his friends, and beating Kageyama’s ass in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3. Midterms were even more unnerving to think about now that inter-collegiate volleyball tournament was coming up. Their team hadn’t won the tournament last year, although they came very close to it, and Hinata was excited to have another shot at first prize. Yachi and Yamaguchi haven’t finished their classes yet so it was just him and Kageyama at their usual table in the cafeteria. Hinata could tell that Kageyama was just as antsy to return to volleyball practice by the way he drummed his fingers on the table.

Hinata opened his phone again for the third time since he sat on the table to check if there was Pokemon nearby. Sadly, the dining hall where they were at was far from the other Pokestops and Pokegyms on campus. But he was having a bit of a slump that week when it came to the Pokemon catching, especially since he hadn’t been catching Electric-type Pokemon lately, and that was his favorite thing to catch. Thinking about Pokemon made Hinata remember Kuroo, the guy who looked like he rode motorcycles but actually drove a beat-up pick-up truck, and his best friend Kenma, who also happened to be classmates and friends with Tsukishima. Kenma, who was also Kenma in Pokemon Go, ended up becoming someone that caught Hinata’s interest. It was mostly because Kenma had really high-leveled Jolteon. But when they were helping out at the diner with Hinata and Kenma mostly assigned to putting up the wall hangings, he found out that Kenma was actually really damn _funny._ Once in a while, Bokuto and Kuroo would stop working to play music, then proceed to argue about whose music was better, and then proceed to have some sort of dance-off. Kenma always muttered something under his breath, loud enough for Hinata to hear and cause him to crack up. Once in a while, Kenma would catch his eye after he cracked up, and smile, as if pleased with himself.

“I wonder how they are…” Hinata found himself talking out loud. Kageyama looked up from the worksheet he was working on.

“Well, their classes should be done by now,” he said, checking his watch.

“Not Yamaguchi and Yachi. I mean everyone else at the diner,” Hinata said. “Kuroo-san, Bokuto-san, Akaashi-san.”

“Oh, their re-opening night was last night,” Kageyama said. “We can ask Yamaguchi. I think they were trying to visit the place.”

“Want to visit for dinner tomorrow? After practice?” Hinata asked. “I miss Bokuto-san’s fried chicken.”

“It’s been two days,” Kageyama snorted. “Whoever scores the least amount of jump serves pays,” he challenged.

“No way! You eat enough for five people!” Hinata protested.

“You eat enough for six people!”

“You both eat enough for twelve people,” Yamaguchi spoke up, sitting down with them. Yachi was with him as well. Hinata noticed that the two of them had been hanging out more, even Yamaguchi was joining their table often, ever since they started helping out at the diner.

“So, how’s everyone dealing with midterms?” Yachi asked, setting down her tray. Hinata smiled. He knew Yachi was probably the busiest out of all of them but she always took the time to ask about how everyone was doing first. Kageyama sighed and put down his pencil.

“I’ve been dying.”

“C-Care to elaborate Kageyama?” Yachi asked.

“No.”

“Dying, seconded,” Hinata raised his hand.

“Um, somewhat dying,” Yamaguchi chuckled. “I’ve been so tired that every time I try to open a book to read it, I fall fast asleep.”

“How about you, Yachi-san?” Hinata asked.

“Well, I have five designs to finish, that’s including my project with Bird’s Nest. I have three exams on Gothic, traditional Japanese, and Scandinavian interior design styles. And three papers too for those classes. Not to mention the study with me videos that I have to edit. But I made my schedule for the midterm period and if I work for about ten hours per day and space them out, I think I should be fine. I also took into account my sleeping and break periods in between working,” Yachi said. Everyone at the table looked at her as if she was some kind of goddess. “U-um, if you need any help, I suggest using a study planner to plan it out,” she added.

“I kind of just, wing everything,” Kageyama muttered.

“But it’s good advice!” Yamaguchi grinned. “I don’t really have a study planner but I like to write down my daily tasks for each day and keep notifications on my phone.”

“That’s a good way to keep track of things,” Yachi said.

“Hey, I have an idea!” Hinata exclaimed. “What if we have a group study session? At our house? Yachi-san, you can use the coffee table or the dining table since you need space for your large papers and the rest of us could work at another table. It would be fun and we can help each other out!”

“That’s not such a bad idea,” Yachi opened her bullet journal. Hinata always admired Yachi for dedicating so much of her time into making something that bookstores already sold. But he could tell that Yachi liked doing it. Whenever Hinata peeked at Yachi’s journal with all of its washi tape, memo notes, calligraphy, stickers, and straight lines with matching color schemes, he could tell that Yachi was personalizing something that she used often. “If I finish one design and my exam notes later, I’d have a few hours of free time.”

“We can order food too,” Kageyama added. “And make an unholy amount of caffeine.”

“Great,” Hinata grinned. “Let’s meet at our place at six!”

…

Yamaguchi was the first to get home and once he was there, he immediately set out to cleaning the entire apartment as much as he could, especially since he knew Yachi was coming. After cleaning out the apartment, Yamaguchi decided to shower and try, and fail, to get his hair to look decent. He had always wanted to grow his hair a bit more but soon realized that it was proving to be quite the chore. Finally, he decided to ponytail his hair like he always did. While he laid out all the books he needed to go through, the doorbell rang.

“Yamaguchi-san,” Yachi smiled in greeting once he opened the door. “Am I too early?”

“No, you’re just in time,” Yamaguchi opened the door to let her in. She was wearing the same clothes she wore earlier but had exchanged her pink hairclips for a strawberry-shaped clip. As always, she carried a lot of things. “You can go ahead and choose a table to work at since Hinata and Kageyama aren’t here yet.” It was only then that he realized he was alone in the apartment with a girl he had a crush on.

“Um, would you like anything to drink? Water? Tea? Coffee? I can run to the convenience store to pick up some juice,” Yamaguchi quickly offered.

“J-just tea would be fine!” Yachi stammered. “You don’t have to go through the trouble.” Seeing Yachi’s nervousness made Yamaguchi relax a bit, making him remember that he didn’t need to overthink so much. Yamaguchi nodded and busied himself with boiling the water before returning to the dining table with two mugs of tea.

“Ah, I love this brand of tea too,” Yachi smiled when she looked at the label on the tea bag. Yamaguchi brightened at the chance for conversation.

“Really? It’s pretty much the only brand I buy. I’m the only one who drinks tea here so I’m able to have a whole box of it to myself. Tsukki always wonders how I’m able to run on just tea,” Yamaguchi said.

“Too much coffee makes me anxious and shaky.” Yachi held the mug and blew on it slightly. “Oh, I almost forgot.” She turned and dug around her bag before pulling out a white paper bag with what Yamaguchi recognized as the strawberry milk memo sheet he had borrowed to write notes to Yachi when he brought her to her apartment, stuck on the bottom part of the paper bag. “I didn’t get to thank you properly for helping me get to my apartment that night. I’m sure it was a lot of trouble for you so I made you some cookies as thanks.”

Yamaguchi felt his heart flutter as he looked into the paper bag to find chocolate-chip cookies. “A-are these, freshly baked?”

“Yup,” Yachi nodded. “I wasn’t sure if you were allergic to nuts so I made them chocolate-chip.”

“Wow, this is just, wow,” Yamaguchi grinned. “As much as I love that you baked chocolate-chip cookies for me as thanks, I also want you to know that there was absolutely no way I was going to leave you in that party to make your way home by yourself.”

“I don’t think I would have even made it home in that state,” Yachi chuckled. “But I knew you were a nice person ever since that day you opened the door for me even though we didn’t know each other. I just wanted to this as an extra ‘thanks’ I guess? And it’s more enjoyable to bake cookies when you’re making them for someone.”

“In that case, I’m sure it will taste good,” Yamaguchi smiled and took a cookie, offering the bag to Yachi as well. It was probably the best chocolate cookie he had ever tasted: chewy, warm, with gooey chocolate chips. Yamaguchi relished both the cookie and his time sipping tea and making conversation with Yachi. In all honesty, he was attracted to Yachi because of how cute she was. Helping her to her apartment that night was mostly because she was a friend of Hinata and Kageyama’s and Yamaguchi feared for what would happen to her if she was passed out in the party or tried to make her way home by herself that night. But after getting to know her, and especially seeing how hard she worked to help remodel Bird’s Nest diner, even if she wasn’t required to, Yamaguchi started to like her for how genuinely nice she was. As much as he loved to watch Hollywood rom-com movies, Yamaguchi would roll his eyes at on-screen the relationships, how they romanticized getting their hearts broken, falling for toxic people, and attempting to become personal therapists and ‘fixing’ bad people. Others may call it boring, but Yamaguchi knew that he just wanted to like someone who was genuinely nice. God knows people like that were hard to come by.

Their moment of quiet was soon interrupted by Hinata and Kageyama coming back to the apartment with two boxes of pizza and more snacks than they could finish. But Yamaguchi loved the somewhat chaotic energy of their entire apartment with everyone working on their midterm assignments. Yachi chose the dining table to work and brought out her design drafts and many different kinds of rulers. ‘So that’s what those weird triangle-shaped rulers are for,’ Yamaguchi thought as he watched Yachi draw several rectangles on her paper. Beside him, Kageyama and Hinata were busy making flashcards for their next exam. Yamaguchi sighed and opened his laptop and his book of Virginia Woolf’s collected essays. He had a paper due for his favorite class, Women Writers in British Literature. But at times, reading so much Dead White Men literature made Virginia Woolf somehow sound like a Dead White Man too. ‘My apologies, Ms. Woolf,’ Yamaguchi prayed in his head before getting to work on his essay.

…

“Seems like everyone, including Yachi, are having a study group session at our house,” Tsukishima told Kenma. The two of them were in an arts and crafts store buying modeling clay, paint, and soil for their diorama project that they were cramming. “Are you still okay with coming over? We can work in my room but it may not be that quiet with Hinata and Kageyama around.”

“It’s alright,” Kenma shrugged. “Maybe we can get some extra hands to work on it.” Tsukishima nodded and the two of them paid for their materials. After passing by the convenience store to buy a year’s worth of Apollo Candies and some instant ramen, they entered Tsukishima’s apartment. Inside, Kenma found Yachi was bent over a really large sheet of paper, completely focused on her sketch of a kitchen. Hinata, Kageyama, and Yamaguchi were at the coffee table with the former two making flashcards and the latter muttering over his essay. Out of all of them, Hinata was the one who had the least attention span and spotted Kenma and Tsukishima enter first.

“Kenma! You’re in our house!” he grinned, jumping up and crossing the distance of their apartment to them. Kageyama looked up to wave but Yamaguchi and Yachi appeared to be oblivious to their surroundings, not that Kenma minded.

“Kei and I have to work on a diorama,” Kenma explained, holding up their paper bag of art supplies.

“You guys still have to make dioramas? I thought that was a high school thing?” Hinata asked. Kenma let out a small laugh.

“It is in the Archaeology Department,” he said. “But, my thoughts exactly.”

“We’ll be working in my room,” Tsukishima said, walking ahead to where his bedroom was. Hinata tailed Kenma.

“If you need help with anything you could call me from the living room! I love making dioramas,” he grinned. Kenma offered a small smile.

“Sure, Shoyo.”

Tsukishima’s room, which he shared with Yamaguchi, was pretty much what Kenma expected it to look like. Yamaguchi’s corner had shelves of books, and more books in piles near the bed. Tsukishima’s side was simply organized, with a few scattered things here and there, and a Jurassic Park poster near his bed. Kenma raised his eyebrows at the poster.

“It was a gift from my brother,” Tsukishima explained when he noticed Kenma staring at it. “I was a fan when I was a kid.”

“The second movie of it was also good,” Kenma commented. “The recent movies…”

“Not so much,” Tsukishima finished. Kenma smiled wryly and the two of them unpacked their diorama supplies. Kenma liked having Tsukishima around as a friend. He wasn’t as tiring to be around as Kuroo and they shared a lot of opinions and sense of humor. One thing that Kenma notice quite a lot was how Tsukishima made so much of an effort to pretend he didn’t care about things. Well, even if his priorities were mostly getting good grades, doing well at his job, and listening to podcasts, Kenma could tell that Tsukishima was observant when it came to what his friends needed.

They had been working on their diorama for two hours and had finished all their instant ramen and half of the Apollo Candies when Hinata poked his head in. “We’re having a Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 tournament in the living room in case you guys wanted to join,” he said.

“Do we look like we’re finished?” Tsukishima sighed wearily, not looking up from the vase he was trying to mold out of clay. “Also, I thought you were studying?”

“We’re taking a break,” Hinata pouted, sitting cross-legged on the floor beside Kenma. One of the things Kenma observed about him was his unending amount of energy and how he found something exciting in almost everything he did. He reminded Kenma a bit like how Kuroo and Bokuto were. Only, Hinata wasn’t as obnoxious or moody as they were. And Hinata had an infectious smile.

“What’s this Naruto thing?” Kenma asked.

“It’s a video game Kageyama and I play!” Hinata said, evidently excited to talk about it. “It’s actually our only video game but we’ve been playing it ever since we saved up for its release. It’s based on the Naruto Shippuden anime and you can play through the story, but only from the Five Kage Summit arc to the Fourth Great Ninja war. But Kageyama and I like to play the player vs. player games where we choose a Naruto character and fight each other. Right now, we have a contest as to who can win the most fights by the end of the year. So far, Kageyama has been winning… but I’ll beat him by the end of the year!”

“If Kei and I can finish our diorama early, I can play a bit,” Kenma said.

“Then I’ll help you! What do I need to do?” Hinata asked. Tsukishima tossed him a bar of clay.

“Make a vase,” he said.

“Easy peasy,” Hinata grinned and got to work. “Yours looks terrible Tsukishima,” he said cheekily.

“Shut up. I didn’t know I’d have to make stupid dioramas in Archaeology,” he muttered, setting his vase down in the diorama.

“Same here,” Kenma added. Thanks to Hinata though, they finished their diorama in under an hour. Kenma knew that saying it out aloud would probably make Tsukishima mad, but Hinata’s vases were far better. After cleaning up, Kenma joined the Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 tournament happening in the living room. Yachi had packed away her designs and was playing a match with Kageyama.

“Ah, I keep forgetting what the controls are,” Yachi chuckled when her character, Sakura was beaten by Rock Lee.

“It’s alright, you’ll get the hand of it soon,” Yamaguchi consoled her.

“Kenma and me next!” Hinata grinned, taking the controller from Kageyama. Kenma sat down on the floor in front of the television and accepted the controller from Yachi. “Need me to flash the controls?” Hinata asked.

“It’s alright. If it’s like other combat games, I can learn it while playing,” Kenma said. Everyone gathered around to watch, even Tsukishima who sat down on the couch. Kenma chose Yachi’s character again, since he didn’t watch Naruto much and knew exactly four characters from the show, while Hinata picked a guy in a black cloak with red clouds on it. After a few minutes, Sakura beat Hinata’s character with a finishing move.

“Wow, he beat you on his first try,” Tsukishima snickered.

“Sorry, I could hold back if you want to,” Kenma offered. Instead, Hinata turned to him with excitement in his eyes.

“That was fun! I’m kind of frustrated that you beat me on your first try but you’re really good Kenma!” he said excitedly. “Let’s play again!”

“Dumbass, it’s Yamaguchi’s turn,” Kageyama said, taking the controller back from Yamaguchi.

“Wanna play Tsukki?” he grinned, looking at Tsukishima.

“No thanks, I’m not that into Naruto,” Tsukishima answered.

“Yeah right. You and I both know that you had a Sasuke poster in your room when you were ten,” Yamaguchi snickered. Tsukishima’s face flushed and Hinata and Kageyama burst out laughing.

“I was ten years old,” Tsukishima said through gritted teeth.

“Once a Naruto fan, always a Naruto fan,” Yamaguchi grinned cheekily. Kenma smiled and handed Tsukishima the controller. He stared at it for a while before sighing and taking it.

“You’re on, Yamaguchi.”

“Who’s your favorite character, Kenma?” Hinata asked, sitting cross-legged on the floor next to him.

“I never really watched Naruto,” he answered. “So, I don’t really have a favorite character.”

“What, you’ve never watched it?!” Hinata said incredulously.

“It’s already hundreds of episodes long,” Kenma said. “So, at this point, I don’t think I want to.”

“That’s true,” Hinata grinned. “I started it when I was very little so Naruto kind of grew with me. Didn’t you have an anime that you grew up with?”

“Yeah, it’s… Sailor Moon,” Kenma mumbled, half-expecting Hinata to laugh at him.

“Oh, I know Yachi-san loves watching it,” Hinata exclaimed. “I only know a few characters.”

“That’s pretty much what I know about Naruto,” Kenma smiled, and relaxed. He played a few more times against Hinata and Kageyama, beating both of them, and their Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 tournament ended late at night. Yamaguchi and Hinata decided to walk Yachi and Kenma home while Kageyama and Tsukishima stayed behind to clean up. When Kenma reached his apartment building, Hinata asked a question that surprised him.

“Can I have your number?”

“My number?” Kenma asked. “What for?”

“So we can text each other,” Hinata said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it wasn’t for Kenma. He hesitated before reaching his hand out to accept Hinata’s phone and type his number in. The first text he received from Hinata came in when Kenma just entered his apartment.

[from: Shoyo]

(11:30 pm) _KENMAAAAA_

(11:30 pm) _you’ve watched Pokemon since you were younger right?”_

[to: Shoyo]

(11:31 pm) _yes, I have_

[from: Shoyo]

(11:31 pm) _we have something in common then! :D_

(11:31 pm) _HEY HEY LET’S PLAY POKEMON GO AROUND CAMPUS SOMEDAY_

[to: Shoyo]

(11:31 pm) _sure. that sounds fun_

[from: Shoyo]

(11:32 pm) _GREAT_

(11:32 pm) _okay, i’ll be going to sleep now_

(11:32 pm) _you should get some sleep too!_

(11:32 pm) _good night kenma!!_

[to: Shoyo]

(11:33 pm) _good night, shoyo_

Kenma, being the night owl that he was, did not sleep early. After playing a game on his laptop and trying to read some chapters of an ethnography for tomorrow, Kenma found himself looking up where he could watch Naruto, and finished half a season in one night.

…

Bokuto was tired. But, a good kind of tired. A satisfied kind of tired. Over the past three days, business was great Bird’s Nest with diners flowing in, keeping Bokuto busy in the kitchen. His muscles ached, his fingers were slightly blistered, and he probably smelled like fry oil or stew, but Bokuto had never been happier in such a long time. And yet, Bokuto knew that the steady flow of diners they currently had would likely peak at some point if they didn’t do anything else. It was a bit of a negative thought, but one that Bokuto knew and accepted as part of running a diner. He had a feeling in his gut that he would need to do just a bit more to ensure that Bird’s Nest could continue having diners for a good long time.

“Ah, Bokuto-san,” Haru greeted. She was the old woman who owned a vegetable stall in the market, Bird’s Nest regular supplier for years.

“Old lady Haru,” Bokuto grinned, skipping over to where she was tying a stack of leafy vegetables into bundles. It was early in the morning and Bokuto had decided to do his morning jog and buy some fresh produce in one go. And he always liked visiting Haru’s stall.

“What do you need today? The usual?” Haru asked.

“Yes please,” Bokuto smiled, deciding to check out a stack of Chinese cabbage.

“Those just came in this morning. I can give them to you for half the price and an extra kilo,” Haru winked.

“You’re the best Haru-sama,” Bokuto grinned.

“By the way, I notice you’ve been buying more stuff than usual,” Haru talked as she bagged a whole bunch of green onions. “How are things at the diner?”

“We’ve been doing great so far!” Bokuto grinned. “There’s this person named Akaashi, they’re a business major student, and they decided to help us out with our business strategies. And then another student named Yachi, she’s in Interior Design, helped us out with remodeling the entire diner. It looks brand-new and better than ever!”

“I see,” Haru nodded. “Remind me to come by one of these nights.”

“We’ll save a table for you,” Bokuto grinned.

“And....?” Haru asked, handing Bokuto his bag full of vegetables.

“And what?” Bokuto asked, puzzled.

“I think there’s some other good news,” Haru looked at him pointedly. Bokuto felt himself flush. “Your face says it all.”

“Well, aside from Akaashi helping out the diner and all…” Bokuto smiled. “They’re a really cool person. They always wear the coolest clothes and they’re smart and really pretty. And they don’t talk too much but they’re always very encouraging.”

“Sounds like someone’s got a crush,” Haru smiled, making Bokuto flush even harder. “Well, let me know when that goes somewhere.”

“If,” Bokuto said.

“When,” Haru persisted. “Oh, before you leave. I found this flyer posted on a building. I thought you might be interested.” 

Bokuto looked at the flyer. It was calling for local restaurant owners interested in joining a cooking competition to be broadcasted on TV. Bokuto’s eyes widened. “Thanks for the vegetables. I got to get back to the diner.”

“Best of luck, Bokuto,” Haru smiled and Bokuto took off, running down the street all the way to the diner where Akaashi was, no doubt waiting for the place to open.

“AKAAAAAASHIIII,” he yelled, slowing down to a stop in front of them.

“Bokuto-san, good morning,” Akaashi greeted.

“Akaashi!” Bokuto repeated. “Let’s join a TV competition!” he said, handing them the flyer.

“’Join our competition to see who is Tokyo’s Best Diner’”, Akaashi read aloud. “They’ll only choose one out 30 competitors. Are you sure you’re up for it?”

“I am!” Bokuto grinned enthusiastically. A smile flitted across Akaashi’s face.

“Well if you believe you can, I’ll fully support you.” Looking into Akaashi’s eyes, Bokuto found no doubt behind their words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wowieee a cooking competition?! i wonder what will happen next...
> 
> alsooo!! not super important but rn i'm working on another fic, specifically a bokuaka one-shot that i plan to make very angsty so if you guys want to check it out when i post it, i can add a link to one of the chapter notes. i'll try not to let it get in the way of my regular posting for this fic though!
> 
> aaaand, i may or may not be working on a tumblr blog for haikyuu headcanons and au's but let's see how it works out. i mean, if i'm back into the haikyuu obsession writing fanfics, may as well set up a blog djgakj
> 
> but yeah. thanks for reading! also i know the ending kind of falls flat but my brain jus really Couldn't. i might fix it later on :)


	5. evolution and natural selection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by: 4-inch stilettos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello helloooo! another pretty long chapter for you guys to read. it's slightly less filler than the previous chapter but i hope you guys find the relationship moments here cute :) as always, thanks again for all the kudos and comments and i hope you guys enjoy

After seeing Kuroo’s glam pants, ‘how would a cat wear pants’ shirt, and many other articles of clothing, one of them including a neon muscle tee, that Tsukishima questioned him for, seeing him walking around the diner in stilettos with the ease that only someone who wore stilettos since they were born could do was no surprise.

“Hey! Tsukki! You came!” Bokuto grinned bounding up to hug him. Tsukishima winced as he felt some of his ribs being crushed. For some reason, helping out with redecorating the diner for a few hours made Tsukishima ‘huggable’ to Bokuto.

“Are those permanent marker rawings?” Tsukishima asked, pointing at Bokuto’s arm that had ‘Bird’s Nest Diner’ written on it in kanji.

“They’re supposed to look like fake tattoos! You like them?” Bokuto grinned, flexing his arm muscles to show him.

“They look nothing like fake tattoos,” Tsukishima deadpanned.

“And you don’t need to add them, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said. They were setting up a camera on a tripod in the middle of the dine where most of the tables had been pushed back leaving a large amount of floorspace in front of the blackboard wall of the diner.

“B-but Akaashi…” Bokuto pouted, looking deflated. ‘Uh-oh,’ Tsukishima thought, knowing Bokuto was going to get into one of his moods again. Luckily, Akaashi noticed it as well and came to the rescue.

“Your presence is quite big enough to be good on television so there’s no need for you to add anything,” they said. Bokuto immediately perked up.

“I’m still wearing these heels,” Kuroo said, standing beside Tsukishima and putting an elbow on his shoulder. “Hehe, I’m taller than you now Tsukki,” he grinned at him. Tsukishima felt his face burn at how close he was.

“Don’t trip over yourself,” he said, moving slightly away.

“Nah, I won’t trip,” Kuroo said, strutting forward and showing off by doing a high kick and jogging in place. Tsukishima let surprise show on his face. It was pretty impressive.

“They look so good!” Bokuto said enthusiastically. “Why don’t you do a flip on camera?”

“I could do that,” Kuroo nodded.

“Again, there’s no need to do that,” Akaashi said. Tsukishima wondered how early they came to the diner to help Bokuto and Kuroo out. According to Yamaguchi, they decided to promote their diner even more by joining a televised cooking competition. To enter, they had to film a short video of themselves talking about their diner and explaining why they should join the competition. The short video was most likely to see if they looked good on television. “But,” Akaashi paused and looked Kuroo up and down. “I’m interested, how did you get so good in walking in stilettos? The most I can do are two-inch heels.”

“Oh, I was really into the Catwoman movie, the one with Halle Berry in it, when I was young and I wanted to be like her so my parents let me run around in stilettos,” Kuroo said.

“That would make a really good supervillain horror story,” Tsukishima pointed out.

“So, what powers would I have? Stiletto manipulation?” Kuroo snorted. “I throw stilettos sharp enough to kill a man and they’re like, boomerangs or something.”

“And you could have a tagline too,” Tsukishima said, getting into it.

“’Prepare to meet your shoemaker!’” Bokuto growled. Akaashi chuckled

“That’s a good one,” Kuroo laughed. “How about ‘This devil _kills_ with Prada’”.

“I like the reference,” Akaashi nodded thoughtfully.

“How about, ‘Prepare for four inches of death’”, Tsukishima added. Everyone was silent for a beat, looking at Tsukishima when he suddenly realized the innuendo. “Wait, that’s not—” Kuroo laughed first, doubling over and gripping the table.

“That sounds like a line from a very questionable porno,” he said, in-between laughs that sounded like dying crows.

“I regret everything,” Tsukishima muttered. Even Akaashi was laughing.

“Come on Tsukki. It was _hilarious,_ ” Bokuto said, throwing an arm over his shoulder.

“Fine,” Tsukishima sighed before smiling slightly. “I guess it was pretty funny.” Just then, the doors to the diner flew open and Yamaguchi ran in.

“Sorry! Sorry, I just finished printing the script. What did I miss?” Yamaguchi asked.

“Nothing much,” Akaashi cleared their throat. “So, let’s start filming?”

While Kuroo and Bokuto went over, memorizing the lines from the script that Yamaguchi helped them out with, Tsukishima hung back with his friend waiting for filming to start. His role was mostly to review the footage and act as someone who was going to judge their entry. Because according to Yamaguchi, who casually blackmailed Tsukishima into helping out again, if they could impress Tsukishima, they could impress the ones assigned to review the footage.

“Well hello there,” Bokuto turned around to face the camera as they started filming. “The name’s Bokuto Koutarou,” he grinned. Kuroo strutted into the frame, his stilettos clicking.

“And I’m Kuroo Tetsurou,” he grinned. Together, he and Bokuto threw their hands in the air.

“And we are… the chefs from Bird’s Nest!”

“You know, I think just seeing how crazy they look would make the judges accept them into the show,” Tsukishima said.

“I agree,” Yamaguchi nodded. “But what will really play to our strengths is the footage of them cooking.”

“They have to submit one of those?” Tsukishima raised his eyebrow. “Seems like this competition is really legit.” He didn’t really understand why they wanted to join it, except that maybe Bokuto would want to be on TV. The diner was already full most nights so they didn’t need the promotion.

“Do you think they’ll win?” Yamaguchi asked.

“Is it that important if they did?” Tsukishima shrugged. “The other contestants have probably trained for years and worked at different diners. Compared to them, Kuroo and Bokuto are basically kids.” As if to make a point, Kuroo did a backflip on camera while Bokuto flexed his tattoo again, only for Akaashi to tell them that they needed to re-shoot it.

“But you can tell they really want it,” Yamaguchi said. “And who knows, they have a ton of friends. We were able to remodel an entire diner in a few days and get a whole bunch of people to come in.”

“Thanks to your aesthetic sharknado quotes account,” Tsukishima smirked.

“I told you it was a good idea!” Yamaguchi laughed, elbowing him. A few moments and a lot of takes later, they had a cohesive introduction video for Tsukishima to check out. It was surprisingly good, once Akaashi finished editing out all the muscle flexing that Bokuto made, and Tsukishima suggested adding a slideshow of the diner’s old pictures when they talked about their history. Afterwards, they decided to film the required video of them cooking the diner’s signature dishes which, Tsukishima could tell, Bokuto was clearly excited about. Seeing that they had the entire diner to themselves since it was still closed, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi sat at an empty table to work on midterms.

After finishing his third midterm essay, Tsukishima stretched his arms and decided to get a few minutes of sleep when he was interrupted by Yamaguchi poking him with his pen. Tsukishima opened an eye to look at him with his best ‘I’ll kill you if we poke me with that again’ face when Yamaguchi spoke.

“Hey, have you thought about what we’re doing for your birthday?”

By ‘we’ Tsukishima would normally assume just the two of them but something about Yamaguchi’s tone implied that by ‘we’ he meant everyone that helped out with remodeling the diner. “The usual,” Tsukishima answered.

“Come on, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi pouted. “Getting drunk while watching Sharknado can’t be the only thing you want to do on your birthday.”

“I also want to buy three boxes of frosted, strawberry Poptarts,” Tsukishima added. Yamaguchi rolled his eyes. “What? We haven’t gotten drunk and watched Sharknado in so long. And it’s a perfect way to end our midterms.”

“Fine,” Yamaguchi sighed and went back to work. But even though he looked like he was giving up with throwing a party for him, Tsukishima could tell that he was still planning something. But for now, it wasn’t his problem. His problem was having to cram his Asian Civilizations paper for tomorrow and getting started on the readings for it later.

It was at this time that Tsukishima highly regretted taking the job at the movie theater and working the late shift there. It was quite popular, especially since the movie tickets were cheaper and it was easily accessible for college students, so the pay was good. But the ‘no-phones during work hours’ policy made his shifts feel even longer. He had hoped to be able to work on his homework during his shifts manning the ticket booth but instead, he spent most of his time playing with clipped-off parts of ticket stubs and covering his arms with stamps.

After his shift that night, he went straight home to find Yamaguchi passed on the couch in the living room with a male voice monotonously reading aloud what sounded like Plato’s ‘The Republic’ coming from his phone. Tsukishima could tell that Yamaguchi was in a desperate situation since he was using his text-to-voice app to read a text aloud to him while he was reading another text. Tsukishima always told him that it was a terribly counter-productive idea but Yamaguchi swore that it worked. Just like how drinking tea kept him running on three hours of sleep, Tsukishima decided not to question his friend. Instead, he tiptoed to the coffee table where Yamaguchi’s phone was and turned the recording off. He thought for a minute, and decided to cover Yamaguchi with a blanket as well before going to his own room.

After two cups of sugared coffee, Tsukishima could safely say that he could do his readings without falling asleep. But that didn’t mean his eyes ached or that he was silently cursing about finishing his readings the other week instead of randomly deciding to watch ‘American Psycho’ again. Now that he thought about it, he did happen to re-watch the movie because Kuroo did his episode on it. ‘I wonder what the next one will be,’ he ended up thinking. The teaser hinted at a series about found-footage films, making Tsukishima guess that the first episode on it would be about ‘The Blair Witch Project’. He was incredibly excited about it. Found-footage films were one of his favorite horror movie films. There was no doubt Kuroo would make a good episode series out of it.

‘I hope he has time to finish it, with the whole cooking competition happening around the corner and all,’ he thought, realizing that he wasn’t doing his readings anymore but staring at the wall. Tsukishima shook his head, knowing he had problems of his own to take care of, but the thought still persisted even as he finally fell asleep at four in the morning and woke up two hours later to go the library and finally type out his damn paper. ‘Just one more exam and I’m done,’ he told himself, packing up to leave the library only to find Kuroo, wearing a black hoodie that had cat ears on the hood, sitting on a beanbag in the children’s book’s section of the public library.

Tsukishima stopped and looked at how comical the scene was: Kuroo, a grown-ass man, sitting on a beanbag much smaller than him with his knees pulled to his chest, reading a book about witch cults, with a bunch of kids sitting on the carpeted floor or the other beanbags, reading Dr. Seuss. ‘It looks like a Renaissance painting,’ Tsukishima thought before realizing that if Kuroo looked up once, he would spot him instantly and probably drag him into some kind of weird conversation that they probably shouldn’t be having in the children’s books section. He considered leaving as quietly as possible, only for that thought about Kuroo not having enough time to work on another podcast episode came up, and shaking his head, Tsukishima approached Kuroo.

“You know this is the children’s book section, right?”

Kuroo looked up at him in slight surprise and grinned up at Tsukishima. “I’m well aware.”

“And yet here you are.”

“You’re here too.”

“Only because you’re here first.”

“Shhhh,” a little girl with pigtails who was sitting on the beanbag beside Kuroo’s looked up at them, clearly annoyed. Kuroo looked from her to Tsukishima and held a finger to his lips before standing up and walking to the section of the library Tsukishima had just come from and sat at one of the tables.

“Way to blow my cover, Tsukki,” Kuroo smirked.

“Like you blended in perfectly,” Tsukishima rolled his eyes and sat across him.

“The beanbags are very, very comfortable.”

“I’m aware.”

“So, guess what movie I’ll be doing,” Kuroo grinned, holding up the book he was reading on witch cults.

“Blair Witch,” Tsukishima said with certainty. “About time you did.”

“One of your favorites?” Kuroo asked, bringing out his laptop from his bag. Tsukishima noticed that it was a really old model, since it was as thick as a book, and there was a length of duct tape along the bottom. Kuroo caught him staring and chuckled. “I had the choice of buying a new microphone or a new laptop so naturally, I chose the mic.”

“I wasn’t judging,” Tsukishima apologized.

“I know you weren’t,” Kuroo smiled.

“So, how’s the episode going?” Tsukishima asked.

“Well, at the rate this is going,” Kuroo sighed and ran a hand through his already messy hair. Tsukishima felt his lips quirk up when he noticed how his hair sprung back into place after being smoothed down. “It might be another clutched episode. Bokuto wanted to practice cooking together yesterday so I didn’t have much time to work. And the diner is busy, as usual.”

“Haven’t you thought about taking less shifts? Maybe hiring someone else to help out?”

“We’ll start hiring new staff by next week, but my hands will probably be full either way,” Kuroo shrugged. “But Bokuto will probably still want me around to help out. And I’m paid for it at least so why not?”

“I see,” Tsukishima said slowly. “Just, don’t overwork yourself, okay?” Kuroo looked up at him with a soft smile on his face. “F-for the sake of the fans,” Tsukishima quickly added.

“Got it. I don’t want you going batshit crazy for the rest of the week if I don’t upload an episode.”

“There’s no going batshit crazy for me as long as black coffee exists,” Tsukishima said. He paused before saying, “Hey, if you need any research help, well, I’m pretty good at it.” Kuroo raised an eyebrow incredulously at him. Tsukishima cleared his throat. “I cram a lot of work but my professors give me good grades.”

“Well…” Kuroo rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepish. “That would be a huge help but… I don’t know you’re probably really busy—”

“I’ll help,” Tsukishima reached into his bag and pulled out his own laptop. “So, witch cults right?”

“Y-yeah,” Kuroo nodded. “Though, I’m not sure if I should delve in to deeply since it’s a series on the effectiveness of found-footage films themselves.”

“To be honest, the film doesn’t really play up the threat of a witch cult itself, other than the weird branch symbols, but more of a threat of something unknown in the forest. Maybe you could use it just a bit to talk about the ending?” Tsukishima suggested. Kuroo pursed his lips, mulling it over, before nodding.

“I see, that definitely works,” Kuroo nodded. “It’s just going to be a bit difficult having to describe all of the shots.”

“You could add voice clips. It would be effective since the movie heavily relies on the character’s voices.”

“Another great idea. Thank you very much, biggest fan.”

“You’re welcome, 37th favorite person.”

…

Hinata hated midterms, but as long as he had his friends by his side, it sucked even less. Especially since he and Kageyama made a contest out of who could be crushed by midterms and volleyball practice first. Tsukishima always said that it was done for them to make a competition out of everything but it worked for him and Kageyama since they always managed to get a good passing grade for their midterm requirements without having to sacrifice volleyball practice.

“So, you think you passed the test?” Hinata asked as he and Kageyama left the classroom after passing their test papers.

“Hell yeah. I bet I’ll get a score higher than fifty this time,” Kageyama boasted.

“Well I bet I’ll get a score higher than sixty,” Hinata argued.

“Higher than seventy!”

“Higher than seventy-five!”

“Neither one of us have gotten higher than seventy-five,” Kageyama scoffed.

“Well maybe I’ll be the first one to do it,” Hinata grinned, even though he knew very well that it would take a miracle for him to get that kind of score.

“Yachi said she’s still finishing a project up so she can’t join us for lunch,” Kageyama said. “Wanna grab lunch somewhere else?”

“Are you thinking Bokuto-senpai’s diner?” Hinata looked up excitedly. Kageyama’s grin matched his.

“Let’s go.”

Bokuto was sweeping the sidewalk in front of the diner when they came. “Hinata! Kageyama!” he smiled broadly. After helping out with the diner’s remodeling, Bokuto welcomed any of their friends for lunch on the house, even when it wasn’t during their operating hours. But now that the diner was always packed, Hinata and Kageyama were only able to come by during lunchtime. Hinata had grown to love the diner and its owners a lot. Bokuto was always happy to cook with them and even asked about volleyball practice. He was the kind of person who always remembered the things you told him.

“I haven’t seen you guys in quite a while,” Bokuto said, sitting with them at their favorite table.

“It’s midterms season, Bokuto-senpai,” Kageyama said, stretching out his fingers which were no doubt aching from the long, written exam they had earlier.

“And it suuuuuucks,” Hinata groaned, resting his chin on the table. “We almost had to miss an hour of volleyball practice to study.”

“But hey! At least you guys are almost done right? And then you’ll be back on the court in no time,” Bokuto said encouragingly. “When’s the big game by the way?”

“Oh, you mean Nationals?” Hinata perked up.

“Still next year, right around January,” Kageyama answered.

“That’s closer than you think,” Bokuto whistled. “Hey, hey! Did I tell you guys that Kuroo and I are gonna be on TV?”

“TV!?” Hinata and Kageyama chorused.

“Yeah!” Bokuto grinned. “We decided to join this cooking competition against other diner owners that will be shown on TV. We’ll be sending our application thingy tomorrow.”

“That would mean more publicity for the diner,” Kageyama said. “That’s really big, Bokuto-senpai.”

“I know, cross your fingers for us guys,” Bokuto crossed his fingers. “And I’ll be cheering for you in your games so do your best there.” Hinata and Kageyama nodded. “Well, you came here for lunch didn’t you? Is it alright if you try out a new fried rice recipe I’ve been working on? I’m planning to use it during the competition so it has to be perfect.”

“Sure thing!” Hinata gave him a thumbs-up. Bokuto returned the gesture and left for the kitchen.

“Hey,” Kageyama poked his elbow. “It’s Tsukishima’s birthday this Friday.”

“What? No way, I almost forgot,” Hinata smacked himself in the forehead.

“He couldn’t care less if we gave him a present but… it would disappoint Yamaguchi,” Kageyama frowned. Hinata agreed with his sentiment. Disappointing Yamaguchi was like disappointing their mothers.

“Do you think he’d like another Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 tournament at our house?”

“Dumbass, it’s just you and I who’d like it.”

“Last time, Kenma enjoyed it.”

“It’s not exactly his birthday, is it?”

Hinata pouted, knowing that Kageyama had a point. “What if we make him a bunch of coupons? Like one of them would be ‘a week of us not yelling while playing video games’ or ‘a day of not bugging Stingyshima’.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Kageyama nodded. “I’m good with it. Let’s do it tomorrow?”

“Yeah!” Just then, the doors of the diner opened and just when Hinata was about to say that the diner was closed, his eyes landed on Kenma.

“Kenma!” Hinata grinned excitedly and ran up to greet him. He looked slightly surprised.

“Shoyo,” he said, looking from Hinata to Kageyama who was seated at a table. “Here for lunch?”

“Yeah! Bokuto-senpai makes the best fried chicken.” As if on cue, a loud ‘You got that right!’ was heard coming from the kitchen. Hinata chuckled. “How about you?”

“I came to deliver some books that Kuroo needed for his next podcast episode,” Kenma said.

“Why don’t you eat with us? Are you busy?”

Kenma glanced to the side. “Well, he’s still asleep at this time so I might as well have lunch too.” With that, he followed Hinata back to the table. Kageyama looked up at him and nodded once in greeting before Kenma sat down.

“Are you done with midterms yet?” Hinata asked.

“Not yet,” Kenma let out a small sigh and pulled at a lock of his hair. Hinata liked how his hair looked: dyed blonde from the bottom of his ears downwards and inky black on the top. Even if Kenma’s hair was in a messy bun most of the time, it still looked cool. “But it’s a good thing the diorama that Kei and I worked on got a good grade. The professor really liked the jars you made, Shoyo,” Kenma smiled at him.

“Is that so?” Hinata’s eyes flashed. “What if I shift to your course instead? I’m pretty good at making clay pots so why not?”

“Um, we don’t make clay pots all the time in Anthropology…” Kenma said.

“I think the major you’re looking for is Pottery,” Kageyama added. “And no way are you leaving me alone to suffer in German.”

“Wait, you’re both German majors?” Kenma looked at the two of them in surprise.

“Yeah,” Hinata nodded.

“I thought you guys were like, Sport Science majors are something.”

“No way, we’re too dumb for that,” Hinata shook his head quickly. “But… did we look like Sports Science majors?” he asked, he and Kageyama looked at Kenma hopefully.

“Well, you looked… sporty,” Kenma said slowly.

“Sports Science is hard,” Kageyama said. “You need to take so many science units for it too and you have to learn a bunch of other sports that aren’t volleyball.”

“You should have seen Kageyama try to set a tennis ball,” Hinata snickered, elbowing Kenma.

“It looked better than when you dived belly first into a swimming pool,” Kageyama smirked.

“How was I supposed to know that diving in volleyball and diving in a swimming pool are different?” Hinata protested.

“Because, they’re different states of matter?” Kenma asked. Kageyama burst out laughing and even Kenma chuckled slightly.

“F-fine,” Hinata found himself laughing along. “That was pretty dumb.”

A few minutes of talking later, Bokuto appeared with lunch and his new fried rice recipe which had slices of roasted eggplant and onion in it that Hinata didn’t think he would like at first only to find that it was delicious. While eating, Kageyama decided to work on their birthday gift coupons for Tsukishima since Kenma was actually a big help when it came to suggesting ideas. The sound of their talking, and probably the smell of food, woke Kuroo up and brought him downstairs.

“Kuroo!” Bokuto greeted as his friend groggily walked up to the table and sit down. Aside from his pajamas and bleary eyes, he didn’t look like he just rolled out of bed. ‘It’s the hair,’ Hinata told himself. “Were you working on your episode again?”

“Yup, almost done with the script,” Kuroo yawned and helped himself to some fried rice.

“I brought the books you asked,” Kenma said, pointing at the books on the table behind them.

“Thanks,” Kuroo grinned and patted him on the head.

“Think you’ll have time to work on it later after we work on the application thing?” Bokuto asked.

“Yeah,” Kuroo shrugged, although Hinata noticed that he looked more tired. “I’ll manage. Tsukki helped me out with the scriptwriting last night and said he’ll help out again later.”

“You didn’t bribe him with frosted strawberry jam Poptarts or anything?” Kageyama asked, looking mildly surprised.

“No,” Kuroo shook his head. “He just wanted to help out. And thank goodness he did or I’d have even more of the script to write. What’s this by the way?” he asked, pointing at the sheet of blue post-it notes that were supposed to be the coupons.

“Kageyama and I are making coupons for Tsukishima as a birthday gift,” Hinata explained.

“Why can’t we just throw him a birthday party?” Bokuto groaned.

“He probably wouldn’t attend,” Kageyama said.

“His own birthday party?”

“Nah, I think he would,” Kuroo smiled. “Begrudgingly, but he will.”

“Well, according to Yamaguchi they just want to do the usual,” Hinata shrugged.

“What’s the usual?” Kuroo asked.

“For some reason, they like getting drunk while marathoning Sharknado,” Kageyama said. Kuroo looked at him for a beat before bursting out into laughter.

“Sharknado as in, ‘tornado passes by an ocean and scoops up sharks only to rain them over California’ Sharknado?”

“Yep.”

“All three movies?”

“There are six of them.”

“Six?!” Kuroo laughed again.

“I guess it is pretty stress-relieving,” Kenma shrugged but based on the smile he was trying to hide, Hinata could tell he found it just as funny as Kuroo did.

“And it sounds just like Tsukki,” Kuroo snickered.

…

Yachi wasn’t having the best of mornings. After burning her tongue with tea, accidentally setting her kitchen on fire while making toast, running out of pencil lead after completely forgetting to buy some, and then heading off to her favorite study café only to find that it had closed down. ‘If this morning is bad then so will be the rest of my day,’ she panicked as she clutched her large folder to her chest and wandered the streets, debating on whether she should just finish up her work at home. She just had to work on one more design before passing her final midterm submission. ‘What if the professor rejects it the moment I show it to her? What if I accidentally trip over something and my designs land in a puddle? What if the door is locked when I try to enter the room?’ she worried, completely lost in her thoughts when she accidentally bumped into someone.

“Ah! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!” Yachi bowed, immediately apologizing without even seeing the person she bumped into.

“Yachi-san?”

Yachi immediately looked up at the sound of the familiar voice to find Akaashi standing in front of her. They looked especially nice today dressed in a long, pale pink skirt and a cropped gray sweater and a light wash of pink on their eyelids.

“Akaashi-san! I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there,” Yachi apologized again. Akaashi smiled kindly.

“It’s perfectly alright. Everyone’s kind of spaced out now that it’s midterms season,” they said. “Are you off to class?”

“I’m actually looking for a place to work,” Yachi said, lifting up her design folder. “My favorite study café closed down.”

“I see, and you need larger tables to work too,” Akaashi pursed their lips in thought. “Actually, I know a café that has pretty spacious tables on the second floor. I could bring you there.”

“Really? Thank you so much,” Yachi sighed with relief. “I don’t want to trouble you though.”

“It’s no trouble at all. I could use six shots of espresso from them actually,” Akaashi laughed humorlessly. ‘Ah, even Akaashi-san gets stressed out too,’ Yachi thought as she followed them to the café. True to what they said, the second floor had really big tables. There also appeared to be a secondhand book sale happening there but very few people were around. Yachi went ahead and laid out her things on one of the tables while Akaashi ordered.

“One mint tea for you,” Akaashi appeared, a few minutes later, placing a steaming mug of tea next to Yachi before sitting in front of her.

“Thank you so much for recommending this place,” Yachi smiled and felt herself slowly calm down.

“You’re welcome,” Akaashi sipped their coffee and let out a hum of contentment. “It’s one of my favorite places to work.”

“Are you also working on midterms?” Yachi asked while shading a wall in her drawing. Now that she had calmed down, she remembered that only the finishing touches needed to be made for her design and it actually looked pretty good.

“Just a few chapters of my thesis,” Akaashi answered. “I took some classes in advance during the summer so I’d have less work to do in my last year.”

“That’s smart,” Yachi nodded. “I’ve thought about doing that but I knew I’d be a bit too homesick to spend the summer in Tokyo.”

“Where do you live, Yachi-san?” Akaashi asked. 

“Miyagi,” Yachi answered. “It’s a good few hours away but I can’t imagine having class and going back and forth between here and there.”

“I see,” Akaashi nodded. “It must be hard having to be away from your family all the time.”

“It was at first, but then I made friends with Hinata and Kageyama, everyone at the diner, and Yamaguchi…” Yachi trailed off, remembering last week when they had a study session at their apartment. Yachi had no idea that if she came early, she’d catch Yamaguchi by himself but she was glad to have that moment to give him the cookies. The look on his face when she gave them to him kind of made her want to bake more cookies.

“Yamaguchi-san, huh?”

“Wh-what?” Yachi stammered, startled out of her thoughts.

“Oh, I was just talking about Yamaguchi,” Akaashi said, setting down their cup. “He’s a really nice guy. He came by the other day ago to help out with filming Bokuto-san and Kuroo-san’s application video.”

“The one for the television show, right? I sure hope it goes well.”

“I’m sure it will,” Akaashi smiled, as if they knew a secret. “It’s Bokuto-san, after all.” Yachi nodded in agreement, knowing that ‘It’s Bokuto-san, after all’ was already valid reasoning. She finished up the last of the structures she needed to color before packing away her design and enjoying her tea. Already, the dreadful morning had faded away to the back of her mind. And to make things even better, a certain boy with freckles and long hair came up the second floor.

“Yachi-san! Akaashi-san!” Yamaguchi grinned, walking over to them. “Funny running into you two here.”

“I bumped into Yachi who needed a place to work,” Akaashi smiled, gesturing for Yamaguchi to sit down.

“Do you come here often, Yamaguchi-san?” Yachi asked.

“Not really. This is actually the first time I’ve been here. I wanted to check out the second-hand books,” Yamaguchi explained. “I figured I’d treat myself a bit after finishing my papers.”

“Excuse me for a moment, I think I might get myself another coffee,” Akaashi smiled politely, and seemingly winked at Yachi, before leaving the table. Yachi felt her face flush.

“Have you finished your midterms yet, Yachi-san?” Yamaguchi asked.

“Oh, I just have to submit something in an hour,” Yachi answered.

“Great! Wanna check out some books?” Yamaguchi grinned. Yachi nodded and followed him to the table in the center of the room that had stacks and stacks of books. She picked one up at random and began to flip through the pages as she centered herself with her thoughts. ‘It’s just Yamaguchi-san, why do you have to be so nervous?’ she told herself.

“Wow, I didn’t peg you as a fan,” Yamaguchi said, pointing at her book. “But it is one of the best horror novels ever so I’m not one to judge.”

“Horror?” Yachi paled and turned to the front page, only to read ‘The Amityville Horror’. She immediately set the book down. “I’m, not into horror actually. I just… didn’t pay attention…” she trailed off.

“That’s alright,” Yamaguchi chuckled and rifled through the stacks of books, occasionally taking one from the pile to read the blurb. Yachi found herself smiling at how he constantly had to push back his bangs away from his face only to held them in place with his long fingers threading through his hair. It’s not that Yachi didn’t find it adorable, but she could imagine how bothersome it was for Yamaguchi, having impulsively cut her own bangs once before. So, she took off her pink, butterfly hairclip, and handed it over to Yamaguchi. He didn’t say anything at first, just stared at the pink clip in her hand, before smiling and picking it up.

“U-um!” Yachi stammered, her face flushing once she realized what she did. “Y-your bangs looked like they were bothering you so I thought you might want to clip them back but if you don’t need it it’s alright!”

“It’s alright, this is perfect actually,” Yamaguchi swept his bangs to the side of his forehead and clipped them in place. The bright, pink color of the clip stood out against the dark green of his hair. “Does it look good?” he asked.

“Very good,” Yachi giggled, partly from relief and partly from seeing how cute her clip looked on Yamaguchi. With her nervousness eased once again, she searched the stack of books for something that interested her, occasionally glancing up at Yamaguchi.

“Ah! Bingo! I knew it was a good idea to come here,” he exclaimed suddenly, holding up a book.

“’Selected Plays by Jean Anouilh’”, Yachi read, trying not to fumble over her English pronunciation.

“He’s a Frenchman who adapted Greek plays,” Yamaguchi explained. “I’m really into plays that are adapted from a different cultural context, especially when they were originally Greek.”

“Are you into writing one yourself?” Yachi asked, curiously.

“More like adapting,” Yamaguchi smiled. “I want to try my hand at adapting Western plays into a Japanese context. It’s actually something I’m hoping to work on for my thesis next year and—” he paused suddenly and looked at Yachi. “Sorry, I kind of blabbed there”, he apologized.

“You don’t need to say sorry!” Yachi quickly waved it off. “It’s not wrong to talk about something you’re passionate about.” And she meant it. The way his eyes shone and the excited tone in his voice was nice to witness.

“Thanks,” Yamaguchi smiled shyly before thumbing through his book. “What are you interested in reading, Yachi-san?”

“Me?” Yachi mulled it over. “Well, I really like reading books that have really good accompanying illustrations in them. I don’t read a lot of books in English but I like poems with nature imagery. I like re-writing some of the lines in my bullet journal.”

“That sounds very much like you, Yachi-san,” Yamaguchi said. Yachi felt her face flush when their eyes met again.

“O-oh, I almost forgot. I have to get to class already,” she said.

“Alright. Good luck with your submission Yachi-san,” Yamaguchi waved goodbye at her before she collected her things and left the café. On her way out, she spotted Akaashi milling around the first floor of the café on their phone. ‘They haven’t ordered anything yet…’ Yachi thought curiously, only for Akaashi to look up from their phone, as if sensing Yachi’s presence, and smiled mysteriously.

…

Getting Yamaguchi and Yachi some alone time together was probably the highlight of Akaashi’s day, something that kept them smiling as they powered through writing their thesis chapters. Their thesis adviser had loved their proposal and the work that Akaashi had done with the diner so far. Of course, they didn’t forget to leave out how Yachi and everyone else’s help with remodeling and promoting the diner before re-opening night helped tremendously with increasing customers. Akaashi only had to a few weeks more of monitoring the improvements with Bird’s Nest before they had enough data to finish their thesis. But something in their mind told them that they would be sticking around for a bit longer.

Exhaling deeply, Akaashi saved their written chapters and decided to do a bit of video editing. They had already finished sending Bokuto and Kuroo’s video entry for the competition and decided to work on their latest ‘Thrift and Alter with Me’ video. Akaashi tried to distract themselves with creating the thumbnail only to unconsciously re-check their email for any correspondence from the TV show. When Bokuto presented them with the idea the first time, Akaashi had their doubts. They always had their doubts when it came to working on something big. But taking risks seemed to be happening recently for them, with a certain crazy-haired guy as the culprit.

‘It’s hard to say no when he looks at you like that,’ Akaashi sighed as they distractedly looked out the window. Sometimes, Akaashi wondered how Bokuto’s childhood at the diner was like. Was there someone there who inspired a young Bokuto to work in the kitchens at that age? At what point did he realized that his future was tied to this diner? Did he even think about the complications of owning one? Did he doubt himself along the way? It would be easy to brush off Bokuto as impulsive with his decisions, but Akaashi knew there was more to it.

“E-excuse me.” Akaashi was shaken out of his thoughts at the sight of the café’s waiter standing by the staircase. He seemed to be indecisive as to whether he would address Akaashi as ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am’, making them smile slightly. They liked having that effect on people. “Uh… the café is about to close”, they finally said.

“I’ll be right out,” Akaashi nodded and packed away their things. It was cold when they stepped out of the building so they tied a scarf around their neck and began walking to the bus stop. ‘I didn’t realize it was so late. I hope Dad already ate dinner. I hope it’s not instant ramen…’ they thought.

“AKAAASHIII!”

The unmistakable sound of Bokuto yelling their name made Akaashi pause and smile before turning around to find him. “Bokuto-san. Good evening,” they greeted. Based on the athletic wear he was wearing and the sweat on his brow, Bokuto had been out for his evening jog.

“Are you headed home?” he asked. “Let me walk you to the bus stop again.” Akaashi smiled as they resumed walking.

“You’ve been walking me to the bus stop quite frequently, Bokuto-san. I’m beginning to think you enjoy it,” Akaashi smiled to themselves.

“Of course I enjoy it! It’s you after all,” Bokuto exclaimed. Akaashi turned to look at Bokuto in surprise. “I mean, I get to talk to you a bit more…” he trailed off. Akaashi bit their lip.

“I’m glad, Bokuto-san,” was all they mustered to say.

“So, have the TV people emailed back yet?” Bokuto asked, excitement plain on his face.

“You mean the producers?” Akaashi shook their head. “Not yet. It should come any day now though.”

“Aaahhhh!! I can’t wait!” Bokuto whined. “I feel so nervous!”

“Don’t be. You and Kuroo-san both put in a lot of work so no matter what happens, you’ve done your best,” Akaashi reasoned. “But… I am looking forward to seeing you on TV.”

“Kuroo-san and I will do great, won’t we?” Bokuto grinned. Akaashi smiled and nodded as they neared the bus stop.

“No doubt about it, Bokuto-san.” The bus wasn’t there yet and to their surprise, Bokuto decided to sit down and wait with Akaashi. They almost opened their mouth to tell him that he didn’t needed to wait but Akaashi stopped themselves. It didn’t seem like neither of them minded.

“It sure is getting colder,” Bokuto shivered visibly.

“It’s almost winter,” Akaashi said, their eyes falling to the thin jacket that Bokuto wore that had a rip on its elbow and near the collar. Now that they thought about it, most of Bokuto’s clothes looked worn down with rips and tears here and there. Akaashi cocked their head, contemplating, before unwinding the scarf from their neck. “You’ll catch a cold, Bokuto-san,” they said, standing in front of Bokuto and tying the scarf around his neck. Bokuto had a look of surprise on his face which quickly faded and was replaced with a smile.

“Thanks, Akaashi,” Bokuto let out a laugh. “I’ll return it to you tomorrow.”

“No need,” Akaashi smiled and sat back down. “Mauve looks good on you.” Just then, they felt their phone vibrate from a notification. For some reason, they didn’t think to check on it in the bus which would have made a big difference. If they hadn’t, Akaashi was certain they’d stop the bus immediately and run out to tell Bokuto that they had been accepted into the TV competition.

“W-wait, seriously?!” Bokuto stared at Akaashi with his mouth hanging wide open. Akaashi let out a laugh, happy that Bird’s Nest was accepted and because he could see Bokuto’s reaction right here and now. “Seriously Akaashi?!”

“Yes!” Akaashi nodded their head frantically, showing Bokuto the email. Bokuto probably read the first three sentences before jumping up.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! I knew it!” Bokuto yelled, pumping his fists in the air. He pulled Akaashi to their feet and enveloped them into a hug. Akaashi felt their ribs strain but wrapped their arms around Bokuto instead.

“I knew you could do it, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi smiled.

“I-I’ve got to tell Kuroo!” Bokuto grinned. “He won’t believe it!” Just then, a wash of light fell on them as the bus drove to the stop. Akaashi squinted against the light.

“Tell him quick, Bokuto-san,” they said, getting ready to board the bus.

“I will,” Bokuto nodded. “And, Akaashi.” Akaashi paused, turning around to look at him. “We couldn’t have done this without you so… thank you. Thank you so much.” The look on Bokuto’s face was so honest and sincere that Akaashi almost hugged him. Instead, Akaashi focused their gaze on their mauve scarf, tied around Bokuto’s neck.

“You’re welcome, Bokuto-san,” they smiled before entering the bus. Inside, Akaashi leaned their head against the window, watching Bokuto run all the way back to the diner.

…

After days of putting off work to play video games and watch Naruto, Kenma finally pulled an all-nighter to submit his requirements just in time. Taking a nap in the library for three hours restored his energy enough for him to be able to focus on catching Pokemon on his way home. Kenma found himself idling near the university gym’s perimeter to take advantage of all the Pokemon gathered there. But when he sucked himself out of the virtual world by looking up from his phone, he found that he wasn’t the only one who had the same idea because Charmander Explosion Master, or Hinata Shoyo, was there too.

“Shoyo,” Kenma found himself calling out as he walked to where Hinata was. He didn’t have to walk all the way though because Hinata had bounded forth to meet him halfway.

“Kenma! Catching Pokemon? I was able to catch a few Goldeens near the dining hall a while ago,” Hinata said, speaking quickly that Kenma wondered whether he needed to catch his breath.

“I just started. I came from the library,” Kenma said and sat down on the sidewalk. Hinata sat down next to him, their knees bumping into each other.

“Finished with midterms?”

“Yeah. Just earlier.”

“That’s great! Kageyama and I had a test earlier too and I thought I was going to fail but I was able to answer at least half of the questions and guess a quarter more.”

“That’s good. Any plans for the rest of the day?”

“It’s Stingyshima’s birthday so he and Yamaguchi are probably gonna hog the TV so Kageyama and I are gonna order food and play video games.”

“For the Sharknado marathon, right?”

“Yeah, it’s such a weird movie though,” Hinata said. Kenma smiled to himself. Despite how different they were, it was surprisingly easy to talk to Hinata. Even when they were both playing on their phones. “Oh, there’s a Dragonite nearby!” he suddenly exclaimed.

“Really?” Kenma perked up and Hinata showed him the screen.

“It’s near the dormitory buildings!” Hinata quickly got to his feet and held his hand out for Kenma. “Come on, let’s catch it!” Kenma hesitated before thinking ‘why not?’ and taking Hinata’s hand. Hinata was fast and made it hard for Kenma to keep up but he held his hand tighter and forced his legs to run. Finally, they reached the buildings and pulled up their phones to look for the Dragonite.

“There, found it,” Kenma said, poised in front of a nearby bench on the sidewalk as he tapped at the Dragonite, ready to throw a Pokeball at it.

“Come on Kenma! You can do it!” Hinata cheered him on. ‘We probably look like high school students who ventured into the campus,’ Kenma thought. But for once, he didn’t dwell too much on what other people might be thinking.

“Got it,” Kenma smiled, showing the Dragonite that was now being registered into his Pokedex.

“My turn! My turn!” Hinata grinned and started swiping at his phone. He reminded Kenma of Torchic, one of his favorite starter Pokemon, that he liked having as a walking buddy. Kenma had the urge to pat Hinata’s head of bright, orange hair. “Caught it!” Hinata suddenly exclaimed, shaking Kenma out of his thoughts.

“That’s great Shoyo,” Kenma smiled.

“Ah, crap! I have to get home already,” Hinata groaned, checking the time on his watch. “Kageyama and I agreed to give our present to Stingyshima when got home.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” Kenma said, opening his bag and handing Hinata a box of Apollo Candy. “I was supposed to give this to Kei after our exam but I forgot. Could you give it to him?”

“Sure thing Kenma,” Hinata nodded and put the box of candy in his bag. “It’s his favorite candy,” he grinned.

“I know,” Kenma smiled. “See you, Shoyo,” he waved before Hinata sprinted off again.

…

“Happy Birthday Tsukki!” Yamaguchi yelled as soon as his best friend walked in through the door. Tsukishima didn’t ask for a party but that didn’t stop Yamaguchi, as well as Hinata and Kageyama, from ordering pizza, setting up the TV and alcohol for the Sharknado marathon, and just plain surprising the birthday celebrant when he came home.

“Happy end of midterms too,” Kageyama added, stifling back a yawn. Tsukishima raised his eyebrows at the scene in the living room.

“It’s not a party. I like it,” he nodded, sitting down on the couch.

“You do the same thing during parties, Stingyshima,” Hinata snickered. Tsukishima shot him an annoyed look.

“He’s right though,” Yamaguchi laughed.

“Also, we have gifts for you!” Hinata grinned, pulling a box of what appeared to be Apollo Candy from his bag. “This one’s from Kenma.”

“Really?” a look of mild surprise appeared on Tsukishima’s face. Yamaguchi smiled to himself.

“This one’s from us,” Kageyama added, handing him their ‘gift’. Yamaguchi cocked his head.

“Are those…?”

“Blue post-it notes?” Tsukishima asked. “Um…thanks?”

“No! They’re coupons! See!” Hinata grabbed them from him and flipped through the stack.

“’One of hour of calling you ‘Tsukishima-san’”, Tsukishima read aloud with a snicker. “’One week of us not hacking your phone.’”

“It’s a thoughtful gift,” Kageyama pointed out. “You could get a lot of use out of it.”

“Well, I could use receiving this for the next few years,” Tsukishima smiled.

“Yes!” Hinata and Kageyama grinned and high-fived each other.

“Well, my gift is just one click away,” Yamaguchi grinned. “Happy Birthday Tsukki.”

“And a happy end of midyears,” Tsukishima added, opening one of the beer cans on the table.

“Hey! You have to eat first!” Yamaguchi smacked his hand away.

“It’s my birthday!” Tsukishima argued.

“We’ll just take this and play video games in the room,” Kageyama said, taking one of the pizza boxes. Yamaguchi was about to open his mouth to say that they could stay if they wanted but stopped, thinking that Tsukishima would prefer for it to be just them, like always. To his complete surprise, it was Tsukishima who spoke up and said:

“You can stick around if you want.”

“R-really?” everyone, except Tsukishima, stammered in surprise. Tsukishima shrugged and opened a pizza box. Yamaguchi smiled to himself. He could tell that Tsukishima didn’t want them to think much of the kind gesture. He could tease Tsukishima for it, but Yamaguchi decided to let it go.

“It’s a dumb movie with terrible CGI so you’d probably appreciate it,” Tsukishima snorted. “And don’t get too drunk and start puking all over the place.”

“Alright!” Hinata exclaimed, flopping down on the floor. Kageyama excitedly grabbed a slice.

“I’ve always wanted to watch this movie,” he said.

“You’re in for a ride,” Tsukishima grinned, settling back down. Yamaguchi snatched up the remote and was about to press play when they heard a knock on the door.

“Did you order more food?” Kageyama asked. Everyone shook their heads.

“I’ll get it!” Hinata leapt off the floor. “Don’t press play yet!” ‘Probably the landlady,’ Yamaguchi thought as he reached for a slice of pizza. But instead of hearing the landlady’s nasally tone, it was the sound of a familiar co-diner owner’s voice.

“Kuroo-san?” they heard Hinata say in surprise. Tsukishima instantly turned to the door. “Oh yeah, Stingyshima’s here.”

“Don’t press play yet,” Tsukishima said, quickly standing up and going to the door. Hinata came back just as Tsukishima shut the apartment door behind him.

“What was Kuroo-san doing here?” Kageyama asked through a mouthful of pizza.

“He said he had a gift for Stingyshima,” Hinata said.

“A gift, you say?” Yamaguchi smiled secretively as he gazed at the door. Nobody else might have seen it, but Yamaguchi had seen the small, excited smile on Tsukishima’s face.

…

“Don’t worry, I don’t plan to crash your Sharknado marathon,” Kuroo said as soon as Tsukishima stepped out of his apartment. “Also, Sharknado? Really? Out of all the horror movies I recommended on my podcast?”

“You won’t be saying that when you decide to ask for my help researching B-movies,” Tsukishima smirked. “So, I don’t think you came all the way here to insult Sharknado.”

“That’s actually the first item crossed off on my agenda,” Kuroo said. “As for the second one, I’d personally like to thank you for helping out with this week’s episode. I actually got an increase in listeners.”

“That’s great,” Tsukishima blinked in surprise.

“I’ll give you a shout-out in next week’s episode,” Kuroo winked.

“If, you need help for the next one, I’m a bit free next week,” Tsukishima adjusted his glasses. “Only if you need some.”

“Looking for more shout-outs then?” Kuroo grinned broadly watching Tsukishima roll his eyes. “And for the third item on my agenda,” Kuroo pulled out a hastily-wrapped gift and a card from his bag and offered it to Tsukishima. “Happy Birthday Tsukki!”

“I…” Tsukishima looked wide-eyed at the gifts in his hand.

“It’s not much!” Kuroo said hastily, rubbing the back of his neck. “Bokuto made the card. I just thought, you might like a little something for your birthday. If you don’t like it I could just take it—”

“Do you ever shut up?” Tsukishima interrupted him. Kuroo stopped and finally saw the grin that Tsukishima was attempting to suppress. “Thank you. Surprisingly, I’ve been receiving a lot of ‘little somethings’ from people today.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Open it!” Kuroo grinned. Tsukishima gently peeled off the wrapping paper to reveal the gift Kuroo bought: a teal-colored dinosaur plushie. The look on Tsukishima’s face reminded Kuroo of a kid on Christmas, if that kid was almost two meters tall who had a funny way of showing his feelings. It gave Kuroo the urge to step forward and just _hug_ this tall, salty lamppost. ‘And he looks kind of cute when he smiles,’ he thought.

“I thought it was the one that resembled you most since it’s… really long,” Kuroo said, suddenly out of his usual witty remarks. “I hope you like Giraffe Dinosaur.”

“It’s a Brachiosaurus?” Tsukishima rolled his eyes at him. “And… thanks. For the gift.”

“No problem Tsukki,” Kuroo grinned. “And now, for the last item on my agenda before I disappear for the night: we got accepted into the TV competition.”

“What? No way,” Tsukishima said, surprised.

“I know. Bokuto told me yesterday. We’ll have the competition two weeks from now,” Kuroo hesitated before asking, “Will you be there?”

“Only if it’s not at 12 am on a Wednesday,” Tsukishima smirked. Kuroo laughed.

“Alright, Tsukki. I’ll see you around,” he waved. “Enjoy your Sharknado marathon.”

“Thanks again,” Tsukishima nodded and Kuroo walked back down the hallway he came from. Before descending the stairs, he spared one last glance at Tsukishima and caught him standing in front of the door, smiling down at the plush dinosaur in his hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tsukishima is my favorite salty lamppost. also, i know there hasn't been much bokuaka recently so i'll be trying to add more on that. it's just a bit hard to balance out 4 ships and a whole bunch of crackheads at once. also, i'm plotting out the rest of the fic and if i were to make a guesstimate, this fic may be 14 chapters long so i hope you guys have buckled in for the ride :)
> 
> also! i set up a tumblr blog for some hq headcanons so if you want to check it out here's the link: [@dinosaurtsukki](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/dinosaurtsukki) . right now i have some posts about haikyuu characters as their zodiac signs so if that's your thing please check it out! or if you just want to rant about haikyuu my message box is always open :)


	6. seismic eruptions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by: Shokugeki no Souma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another extra long chapter for you guys!! thank you so much for the kudos and the kind comments so far! i hope you guys enjoy it!
> 
> also,,, i kind of got really excited when writing the first part since i'm That Bitch who yells at the TV during cooking competitions while eating instant ramen,,, so i kind of went ham with describing the cooking competition in the first part.

Between them, Bokuto and Kuroo, it was definitely Bokuto who was the most confident. ‘And here I thought Kuroo-san and I would both have to calm him down,’ Akaashi thought, rubbing at their temples, which were throbbing from stress. The fact that they weren’t wearing make-up somehow made things even more stressful. Winging out their eyeliner was usually the way they calmed down in the morning but knowing that they had to be backstage with Bokuto, Kuroo, and the rest of the TV crew made them choose to appear as a normal cishet man for the moment. The others had looked at Akaashi with a curious look when they met them at the train station said nothing, no doubt respecting their space. But Bokuto, as always, said that they looked nice today.

“Are you alright, Akaashi-san?” Yachi piped up, appearing at their side. “I brought my calming essential oils with me in case anyone needed.” Akaashi let out a nervous chuckle. Thank god they chose to bring Yachi along backstage.

“Thanks, Yachi. I’ll be alright,” they smiled. She hopped up on the bench beside them.

“If you say so,” Yachi said, tucking her roller of essential oil into her pocket. She sucked in a deep breath and turned to watch Bokuto and Kuroo were engaged in a conversation. From time to time, Kuroo would lick his lips and suck in a few deep breaths, most likely in an attempt to calm down. Bokuto, however, had a look of pure concentration in his eyes. “So, today is the big day,” Yachi said, nervously chewing her lip.

“The one we’ve all been waiting for,” Akaashi continued and cracked a smile. “When you signed up for remodeling the diner, did you think we’d make it all the way to here?”

“Definitely not,” Yachi shook her head with a laugh. “But when I think about that day and how far we’ve come now, I can’t help thinking about how much further they’ll go.”

“They’ll make it to the next round,” Akaashi said with pure, utter confidence. “Actually, the main thing I’m worried about right now is Bokuto-san becoming moody and doubting himself.” He looked up again to glance at Bokuto and Kuroo. “But I think Kuroo-san could keep him in check.”

“They are good friends,” Yachi agreed. “Somehow, I think I’m more worried about the others. Especially Kageyama and Hinata. If they get lost going to the bathroom, they won’t find their way back by themselves. And then Yamaguchi-san would have to find them himself. And we can’t text to check on them either…” Hearing her go off on what she was scared about, and noticing the slight shift in tone when she said Yamaguchi’s name, somehow relieved the stress that Akaashi felt. The fact that they didn’t have their phones with them, since the stage managers didn’t want any ringtone sounds to get in the way of their filming, made the unease greater.

“I’m sure they’ll be alright,” they chuckled. “We’ve all worked together to help Bird’s Nest and I doubt that they’ll miss the chance to see what Bokuto-san and Kuroo-san can do.”

As if on cue, one of the stage managers entered the backstage where the contestants were getting ready. “Hello everyone, please line-up according to the numbers given to you. We will be starting the program in ten minutes.”

“It’s finally time,” Akaashi stood up abruptly, immediately meeting Bokuto’s gaze.

“Akaashi,” he walked over to them. There still wasn’t a hint of worry on his face but his expression was strange. “Y-you’ll cheer for us, right?” Akaashi reached out a hand to touch his shoulder.

“Of course, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi smiled at him reassuringly. “Yachi-san and I will be watching from nearby, nearer the audience even. So, you’ll hear us for sure.”

“Alright,” Bokuto smiled broadly.

“Hey, Bo! Let’s go already,” Kuroo called. There was a look of unease on his face as he watched the two of them. ‘He’s probably nervous,” Akaashi thought.

“Coming!’ Bokuto hurried after him and they took their places in line, leaving Akaashi and Yachi behind. Another stage manager came up to them and the other contestants’ assistants.

“We have places reserved for you as well, please follow me.”

Akaashi and Yachi followed the stage manager to a roped off area near the main stage. It reminded Akaashi of a few cooking competitions they watched before, except that this one was filmed in front of a live audience. There were thirty cooking stations laid out on the stage with a table at the far end for the judges. Several TV cameras dotted the outer edges of the stage and a pantry of ingredients was stationed at the side. While walking to their designated area, one that was out of the view of the TV cameras, Akaashi found themselves taken aback by the large, live-audience that came to watch. When they squinted, they could spot Hinata’s bright, orange hair and Tsukishima’s height sticking out and make out the rest of their friends who came.

At last, the TV show host, a handsome, man with brown hair named Oikawa Tooru, stepped out in front of the audience. “Welcome, everyone!” he grinned, waving both of his hands at the audience. Many of the girls, and a fair share of boys, from the audience squealed his name and Akaashi had the thought that maybe most of the audience members were just fans of Oikawa. “I am your host, Oikawa Tooru, and this is ‘Tokyo’s Best Diner’. Tonight, we have thirty sets of pairs representing diners from all over Tokyo, all cooking for the chance to be named as the Best Diner in Tokyo and of course, our cash prize. Only fifteen diners will make it through after this round for a chance to compete in the semi-finals.”

Akaashi bit their lip as they scanned the rows of contestants. After doing a considerable amount of research, Akaashi discovered that a lot of them had owned successful diners for years and had strong, culinary backgrounds. They felt their confidence waver for a second before choosing to focus on Bokuto. He definitely stood out among the older chefs, especially with his hair. Kuroo looked quite intimidating too, even if he insisted on wearing the stilettos even in the competition.

“And now, the judges will announce the dish that the chefs will have to cook for tonight,” Oikawa said, striding over to the judges’ table. One of them, an old man in a suit, took the microphone.

“Tonight, you will be cooking…” he paused, no doubt for dramatic effect, “A rice bowl dish.”

“You heard the man, chefs,” Oikawa smiled winningly and turned to the contestants. “You all have thirty minutes. Starting…now!”

At his signal, the paired contestants began planning with each other. Akaashi watched a cameraman zoom in close to Kuroo and Bokuto’s discussion. If Akaashi leaned for, they could slightly pick up what they were saying.

“Isn’t that a bit unconventional?” Kuroo asked.

“It is, but trust me,” Bokuto grinned, patting his shoulder. Kuroo chuckled and shook his head.

“I trust you.” And with that, the two of them sprinted off to the pantry.

“A rice bowl dish,” Yachi echoed beside them. “That should be easy, right?”

“It… appears to be,” Akaashi nodded. “There are many different options for a dish that they could make and it’s a cheap, staple meal. But, the problem for the chefs would be making their dish stand out, especially if they want to go with the basic route. At the same time, it would be easy for them to overthink things.”

“It’s not as easy as I thought it was then…” Yachi said worriedly.

“Don’t worry,” Akaashi smiled as they watched Bokuto and Kuroo leave the pantry. “I think they have a plan.”

In their past few weeks of helping out at Bird’s Nest, Akaashi had never actually seen Bokuto cook. When they watched him now, cooking in a competition in front of a live audience, Akaashi realized why the Bird’s Nest customers always got their orders quickly. Bokuto was basically a whirlwind when it came to cooking. His hands and arms moved effortlessly: chopping, dicing, and stirring almost all at once. His ability to manage all of the cooking was a sight to behold as well. And the look on Bokuto’s face sent a chill through Akaashi’s spine. They had never seen Bokuto so focused like this. Beside him, Kuroo’s skill in the kitchen was just as surprising. It was clear that Bokuto was in charge of the composition of the dish and its flavors, but Kuroo worked just as fast and kept up with Bokuto’s requests. The two of them were perfectly in-sync and out to win.

“This is… intense…” Yachi exclaimed beside Akaashi. Her eyes were wide and she was seated on the very edge of her chair. “It already looks really impressive on TV but in real-life, it’s like a completely different thing.”

“I agree,” Akaashi chuckled. “Bokuto-san and Kuroo-san are completely in their element.”

“That’s true. But…” Yachi trailed off and Akaashi turned to look at her. “When you look at the other competitor’s tables, they’ve all got some meat or fish with them,” she said, pointing to one of the tables where the chefs were clearly making katsudon. “Kuroo-san and Bokuto-san haven’t brought out any kind of meat, I think.”

“They must be going for a vegetarian dish,” Akaashi mused. True enough, they watched Kuroo drop cubes of breaded tofu into a pan of hot oil.

“They’re trying to stand out from the rest,” Yachi said. “But hopefully, it pays off.” Akaashi nodded and the two of them watched in silence as the contestants’ thirty minutes to cook ended. Bokuto and Kuroo stood beside their dish and waited as the judges circled the tables, sampling each dish and commenting on it. Akaashi immediately deducted which contestants were in danger of elimination based on the judges’ critiques. Finally, they reached Bokuto and Kuroo’s table.

“So, Bokuto and Kuroo from Bird’s Nest diner,” Oikawa announced as he and the judges eyed their dish. “This, looks quite different from the other dishes we have tried. Care to explain what you’ve made?” Bokuto and Kuroo looked at each other before Bokuto cleared his throat to speak.

“We’ve decided to make a spicy tofu rice bowl,” Bokuto said. “It’s completely vegetarian but we decided to layer the flavors in the sauce.”

“Choosing to make a vegetarian dish is quite ambitious,” one of the judges, a beautiful young woman with raven hair, said. “I hope your risk has paid off.” Bokuto nodded and the three judges each took a bite of the dish. Akaashi flinched as they recoiled from the spiciness of the dish. And then, they went in for another bite.

“That’s a good sign, right?” Yachi squeaked. “Right?” As if to answer her question, the third judge, who was a tall, muscly man, spoke up.

“It’s delicious!” he boomed. Akaashi felt a laugh escape their chest as Yachi gasped beside them. From the audience, they could make out the sound of Hinata and Kageyama cheering. Bokuto and Kuroo grinned broadly and high-fived each other.

“It was incredibly spicy but there were so many layers of flavor that I had to get another bite,” the old judge said.

“Frying the tofu to make it crispy on the outside and soft on the inside was a genius idea,” the female judge added. Akaashi wondered if this was the first time they saw her smile that night. “And there were so many layers of flavor even without the use of meat.”

“We added some stock made from shiitake mushrooms and kelp to the sauce,” Bokuto said proudly.

“Well, great job,” the female judge, and the rest clapped. And with that, they moved on to the rest of the judging. After a considerable amount of time deliberating, in which Akaashi gave in and asked for Yachi’s roller of calming essential oil, the judges were finally read to announce the top three winners for the day and the rest of the diners who made it through the first round.

“And the results are in,” Oikawa grinned, looking intently at the cameras. “In third place, we have… One More Round.”

Beside Akaashi, Yachi quickly grabbed his arm. “Do you think…”

“Maybe,” Akaashi gripped her hand.

“And in second place…” Oikawa paused before exclaiming. “Bird’s Nest!”

Akaashi felt a cheer rise out of their chest even before they sensed it. They were certain that the loud ‘Bokuto-senpai!!’ they heard coming from the audience came from Hinata and Kageyama. The cameras were trained on Bokuto and Kuroo as they yelled and hugged each other.

“Alright!” Bokuto cheered. “Hey! Hey! Hey!” Kuroo laughed and mussed up his hair.

“And now… for the winner of this round,” Oikawa said. “We have… Hattori Diner!” Akaashi clapped politely as the cameras trained on the two chefs, both middle-aged men, from Hattori Diner who didn’t seem quite surprised by their win. ‘They’re people to watch out for,’ Akaashi told themselves. Oikawa finished listing off the other diners who made it to the next round and said the closing remarks for the episode. Akaashi and Yachi joined a still-euphoric Bokuto and Kuroo backstage before meeting up with everyone else in front of the building.

“Bokuto-senpai!” Hinata yelled, doing what appeared to be the Naruto Run straight into Bokuto’s arms. “You did it! You did it!” he cheered. Yamaguchi, Tsukishima, Kageyama, and Kenma lagged back but congratulated Bokuto and Kuroo.

“Did you see the look on the judges’ faces?!” Bokuto straight-up cackled. “They were like ‘Hah, no way you can win this with spicy tofu’ and they tasted it and they were like ‘wait a second! This is amazing!’”

“Admittedly, I was nervous that I didn’t see any protein at your station,” Yachi said.

“Can you imagine how I felt when he told me that idea!” Kuroo exclaimed. “I was sure that Bokuto had lost his mind.”

“I’m just an evil genius,” Bokuto grinned. Hinata was still held up in his arms like a child with their dad. It put a smile on Akaashi’s face.

“That was enough excitement for me for a week,” Yamaguchi breathed out. Yachi patted his arm sympathetically.

“It was impressive watching Kuroo-san walk around in stilettos,” Kageyama added, eyeing Kuroo’s footwear with a wary look. “I feel like most of the footage of you guys is just of Kuroo-san walking.”

“I told you it’d be good for the camera,” Kuroo grinned and posed. “Pretty impressive, don’t you think Tsukki?” he elbowed Tsukishima in the ribs.

“It did distract the other contestants cooking next to you,” Tsukishima smirked. “I think it was the team that accidentally made their dish too sweet.” Everyone laughed and Akaashi got that warm feeling in their chest again. Except, it was interrupted by that feeling of dread and irritation that they always felt whenever they had to attend a class that had Daishou Suguru in it.

“Hey, Akaashi,” Akaashi heard him call out. Their friends paused their celebrating and Akaashi felt their jaw clench before turning around to greet their nemesis.

“Daishou-san. Fancy seeing you here,” they said politely. Annoyingly, Daishou was wearing a suit and tie that appeared to be quite expensive, and of course, the usual smirk on his face. Akaashi stepped forward to meet him.

“You didn’t tell me your thesis project was working with a diner,” Daishou grinned. “Congratulations on the _second-place_ win by the way. Chicken Nest, right?”

“Bird’s Nest, actually,” Bokuto corrected him. “And thanks! We’re really proud,” he added, clearly oblivious that Daishou was talking down to them.

“Right,” Daishou nodded.

“Is there a reason you came over?” Akaashi sighed.

“Just wanted to talk to some fellow competition. Our company does like to delve into managing diners in Tokyo,” Daishou shrugged nonchalantly. “But seeing as Hattori Diner won first place, maybe there wasn’t much competition in the first place.” Akaashi narrowed their eyes, ready for a retort when Kenma, out of all people who had been silent the entire time, spoke up.

“Kuroo and Bokuto have been trending for the past two hours,” he said, looking up from his phone. “Aside from the cooking competition itself, ‘Tokyo’s Best Diner’ also has an audience favorite component. Before the next round of competition, the show will release a poll on the audience’s favorite chefs and if they win, they gain an advantage in the following round.” Akaashi smirked and silently thanked whatever gods there were that Kenma was on their side.

“And what about it?” Daishou narrowed his eyes, clearly pissed off. Kenma looked up at him, his expression as unreadable as always to Daishou but to Akaashi and Kuroo, they could tell he was enjoying this.

“My best friend here can run around in four-inch stilettos while Bokuto is the loudest person I know. The chefs from Hattori look like they type hashtags separate from the words they’re trying to tag,” Kenma said. “I wonder who people will vote on as their favorite.” Akaashi could swear that they saw a vein pop in Daishou’s forehead. They were about to relish that moment of pure, utter savagery, courtesy of Kenma, when Bokuto and Kuroo ruined it.

“There was an audience vote?” Bokuto asked.

“I’m… your best friend?” Kuroo choked up. Kenma and Akaashi sighed at the same time. But they were pleased to find that Daishou still looked quite irritated.

“Well, the audience vote won’t matter if a couple of inexperienced chefs don’t know how to use it well,” he smirked and turned around. “See you in the next round, Bird’s Nest”, he waved. Akaashi sighed and turned back to their friends.

“Who was that and why did he have such a punch-able face?” Kageyama asked.

“One of my… classmates,” Akaashi said. “We’ve been at each other’s throats ever since I picked a fight with him after he loudly supported capitalism during his recitation in our class.”

“He was just talking down to us, right?” Kuroo frowned.

“You noticed it just now?” Tsukishima snorted.

“Whatever he is, we’re going to beat Hattori Diner next round!” Bokuto said determinedly. “We won second place and based on what Kenma said, we’re sure to win that Most Popular award thingy.”

“Audience Vote,” Kenma clarified.

“Right!” Bokuto nodded. “But that’s for another day. For now, time to celebrate at the diner!”

“Alright!” Yamaguchi, Yachi, Kageyama, and Hinata cheered. All of them made their way out of the building while Akaashi discreetly walked beside Bokuto.

“I take it you’re going to cook for all of us,” they said.

“Of course!” Bokuto grinned.

“Wouldn’t you rather get some rest?” Akaashi asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“No way!” Bokuto flexed his arms. Akaashi had to bite their lip to stop themselves from running their fingers across them. “I’m extra pumped now that we won second place. Though I’m kinda bummed that we didn’t place first.”

“You made it to the top three, celebrate that victory for now,” Akaashi smiled encouragingly.

“Alright, Akaashi,” Bokuto nodded. “And thanks for being our assistants for today. Seeing you sitting nearby really gave me a boost of strength!” Akaashi felt their cheeks warm again. Even though Bokuto said the most basic compliments, they could tell he really meant every word.

“It was an honor being able to watch you and Kuroo-san cook up close,” they said. “And I know you’ll do even better in the next round.”

“Akaashi, you want me to beat Hattori Diner, don’t you?” Bokuto asked. It was such a sudden question that Akaashi looked at him in surprise. “I can tell you didn’t like that Daishou guy and you want to prove him wrong.”

“The only reason I want to prove him wrong is because he was looking down on you,” Akaashi said. “And I want you to prove that he shouldn’t have looked down on you in the first place. So, yes. I want you to beat Hattori Diner.” Bokuto looked at them with a glimmer in his eyes and a smirk on his face.

“You got it, Akaashi.”

…

As much as he loved sleeping in every morning because of the cold weather, Kageyama easily adjusted himself to morning practice for volleyball. But that was because he’d adjust anything in his schedule to accommodate playing volleyball. And waking up early in the morning wasn’t so bad. The house was silent, except for the sound of the blender whirring when Kageyama would make a breakfast smoothie and Hinata bustling around to prepare his gym bag instead of doing it the night before. At five in the morning, they’d go out for a morning jog all the way to the gym where their teammates would already be practicing. Kageyama liked how empty the streets looked, the gray color of the sky, the way his breath turned into vapor, and Hinata’s incessant chatter. When he looked back on their high school days, when he and Hinata were constantly at each other’s throats or Tsukishima’s throat and Yamaguchi had to be the peacekeeper, it seemed strange that the four of them would be living together and going to the same university. Out of all of them, it would probably be just Yamaguchi who’d admit out loud that they were a constant presence in each other’s lives and being without each other would just be weird.

And their friend group seemed to be growing. Eating at Bird’s Nest became an every day affair for Kageyama and Hinata. It was no longer weird to see Kuroo sleepy-eyed and sitting with them at the table. Sometimes, Kenma would tag along when they walked home and he and Hinata would catch Pokemon together while Kageyama made sure they didn’t bump into anything. Even Yachi grew into the new group and would often be seen chatting about her interests with Akaashi.

“Woah! Bokuto-senpai and Kuroo-senpai are still trending!” Hinata grinned, checking his phone in the locker room while changing his clothes. “Take that Hattori Diner!”

“Pay attention to what you’re doing, dumbass,” Kageyama said. “You put your shirt backwards on again.”

“Gah!” Hinata pulled at his shirt in surprise before hastily removing it.

“And hurry up, Coach said he had something to talk about before practice,” Kageyama added while double-knotting his shoelaces, partly because they’d fall off during practice and partly because Hinata would attempt to untie them again just to annoy him.

“Aw man, he’s gonna be droning on for hours,” Hinata groaned as the two of them made their way out of their locker rooms to their coach’s office across the gym where their other teammates were. “I swear, his coffee was ice cold by the time he finished his meeting last time.”

“It couldn’t have gone ice cold,” Kageyama scoffed.

“It did!” Hinata pressed. “Right before we left, I saw him take a sip and he shivered. And the other he didn’t notice that a fly was crawling up his nose.”

“I can’t imagine any fly would want to be inside coach’s nose.”

“I bet it’s like a forest for a fly.”

“More of a swamp, because of how damp it all is.”

“A swamp!” Hinata cackled. Kageyama quirked a smile as they entered their coach’s office. Their meeting began ten minutes later, giving Kageyama just enough time to make a bet with Hinata on how long the meeting was going to last. It turns out, both of them lost because the only thing that their coach brought up was that coaches from Japan’s professional teams would be scouting for players.

“S-scouts!” Hinata and Kageyama chorused when their coach broke the news.

“That’s right,” he grinned. “While I’d like to say that they’ll pay more attention to individual performances of the players, it would catch their eye if we won a good number of matches.” Kageyama felt a twinge of annoyance at their coach. The way he talked made it seem as if he knew they weren’t going to win Nationals. He could tell Hinata felt the same way too but the years have taught him that he didn’t have to fight anyone face to face and concentrate on proving his worth at the court.

“But that’s all I wanted to say for this morning. Now go on and warm-up,” their coach finished, waving them out of the room. As usual, Kageyama and Hinata jogged side by side.

“Scouts, huh?” Hinata spoke up. “Do you think they’ll check us out?”

“We’re probably the only notable people on our team,” Kageyama said. He wasn’t exactly bragging, but just stating it as-a-matter-of-factly. He knew it wasn’t exactly their teammates’ fault but their coach wasn’t exactly the best at motivating people.

“Man, I’d love to join a team,” Hinata sighed. “And maybe even join a training camp abroad!” 

“And have a coach who actually gives a shit about us,” Kageyama muttered.

“Imagine all the quicks we’d get to do in front of a larger audience,” Hinata gushed. Kageyama quirked an eyebrow at him.

“You do know that when we get scouted we’ll probably end up in different teams?”

“Wha-? There’s no way,” Hinata pouted. “We’ll just have to show how well we play together so that they’d scout us into the same team.”

“Players who can work well no matter who they’re partnered with are more likely to get scouted,” Kageyama pointed out, but when he saw the look on Hinata’s face he relented. “But you’re right. We could get scouted into the same team.”

“That’s right,” Hinata nodded. Kageyama knew that he was being unrealistic again but he could hardly blame Hinata. It would feel weird tossing to a different spiker. Sure, he was able to adjust from being a setter to his high school teammates to his university teammates. But Hinata was different. In all honesty, Kageyama was feeling just as nervous as Hinata when it came to being scouted.

“Face it, you’re just scared to lose to me,” Kageyama smirked.

“No way!” Hinata shot him an irritated look. “I’d definitely kick your team’s ass, no matter who my setter is.”

“That’s if you can nail a jump serve first.”

“I did three yesterday!”

“You over-stepped.”

After morning practice and hitting the showers, they headed straight to class and struggled to stay awake while their professor drilled them on German verbs. For both of them to get some sleep, they had a system of sleeping in shifts of twenty minutes each while hiding behind a textbook. Because their lecture hall was so big, it had worked well for them both so far, except on the off-chance that both of them ended up falling asleep.

As usual, they headed off for Bird’s Nest to have lunch only to find that things were, a little different than usual. For one, there was a Help Wanted sign written in permanent marker on bond paper posted at the door. And another thing was seeing Bokuto fast asleep with his head on the table inside.

“Do you think we should leave him alone first?” Hinata asked, nudging Kageyama as they peered into the diner.

“Seems like it,” Kageyama nodded. Just when they were about to leave, Akaashi, who had been behind the counter, came over to open the door.

“Hey guys, almost didn’t see you there,” they said. They were wearing a tank top and long skirt with their usual winged eyeliner and shimmery eyelids. For some reason, it made Kageyama relieved, especially after seeing how un-Akaashi they looked that weekend during the cooking competition.

“It’s okay, we could go someplace else since Bokuto-senpai seems tired,” Kageyama said. At the sound of ‘Bokuto-senpai seems tired’, Bokuto immediately woke up.

“What?! I’m not tired. Who said that?” he swiveled his head around.

“It’s okay if you need sleep, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said.

“I’m up, I’m up,” Bokuto stretched and stood up. “Come on in guys!” Kageyama and Hinata shared a glance before shrugging and walking inside.

“You look, more tired than usual Bokuto-senpai,” Kageyama said, after spending ten seconds formulating how he could say it in the nicest way possible. To his surprise, Bokuto laughed.

“Yeah, well the diner was absolutely packed last night! Even more so than how it usually was,” he explained. “Even Kuroo was tired.”

“Almost everything was sold out as the night ended,” Akaashi added.

“It must be because you guys were on TV!” Hinata grinned.

“Right?!” Bokuto high-fived him. “I knew it was a good idea to join that competition-thing.”

“The downside to that is that we’re understaffed,” Akaashi sighed.

“Hence, the Help Wanted sign,” Kageyama presumed.

“Right, we need a waiter and an extra person to help out in the kitchens,” Akaashi said.

“And we’re actually making enough money to pay them!” Bokuto grinned. Instinctively, Kageyama turned to Hinata, who had _that_ look in his eyes. _That_ look was the look he often had when he was about to do something crazy. Like hack into Tsukishima’s phone or ride a scooter while playing Pokemon Go.

“Are you thinking…” Kageyama began.

“Yes!” Hinata exclaimed. “You’ve been talking about wanting to work part-time for a while now. And, I’m not bad in the kitchen if I do say so myself.”

“Wait, are you guys seriously considering this?” Akaashi stepped in. “Like, seriously?”

“That’s a great idea!” Bokuto agreed enthusiastically. “Akaashi, can we hire them? Pleaaaase!”

“First of all, you’re the owner of this diner, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi said. “And second of all,” they turned to Hinata and Kageyama. “It’s not that I don’t trust you two but don’t you also have to train for Nationals? This isn’t exactly an easy job. This diner gets packed.”

“We… don’t really have experience…” Kageyama murmured.

“But you could teach us,” Hinata suggested. “And when Nationals come around, our professors let us skip classes to train and then Kageyama and I cram our studying for the remedial exams after.”

“I’m seriously worried for your grades…” Akaashi said.

“But it’s a great idea,” Bokuto reiterated. “I could teach you guys everything Ukai-san taught me.”

“Great! Sign us right up,” Hinata grinned. “This is gonna be a piece of cake, Kageyama!”

“You guys seriously don’t know what you’re getting into,” Akaashi sighed. And even though Kageyama was on board with most of his best friend’s decisions, he started getting the sinking feeling that maybe this wasn’t such a good decision.

…

“Ahhh, I’m beat,” Hinata sighed, stretching both his arms out and slumping over one of the chairs. Bokuto grinned and mussed up his hair.

“But hey, you’re improving quite a lot, Hinata,” he reassured him. “When I first started out, I was so tired that my arms felt numb and Ukai-san gave me the day off to recover,” Bokuto smiled at the memory.

“You get used to it eventually,” Kuroo added, sitting down on a chair next to Bokuto. It was a Saturday, which meant no classes for Hinata and Kageyama, and therefore, a training session at waiting tables and helping out in the kitchen. Bokuto had made Hinata practice slicing ingredients which they would use later when they opened. Kageyama had spent the afternoon practicing how to carry stacks of dishes and glasses on trays.

“But with a bit more practice, the movements will just come naturally,” Bokuto said. “You’re already pretty fast at moving Hinata which certainly comes in handy.”

“Will I be able to cook as fast as you someday, Bokuto-senpai?” Hinata asked. Bokuto felt a dopey smile appear on his face at the sound of someone calling him ‘senpai.’ Kuroo noticed this and playfully rolled his eyes at him.

“Of course you can!” Bokuto assured him. “But don’t be afraid to take it easy if you need to. I can’t imagine how hard it is having to balance your volleyball training and studies with working here.”

“What studies?” Kageyama snorted.

“If I hear from Yachi that you’re failing your classes, we’re locking you in here to study,” Kuroo said.

“Maybe we can study while working,” Hinata suggested.

“That doesn’t work well,” Kuroo laughed and shook his head. “I accidentally ended up writing a fried chicken recipe on my exam once.”

“I fell asleep during my exam!” Bokuto piped up.

“Alright, alright, we’ll let you know when we need to take time off,” Kageyama said. Just then, a loud buzz from the second floor was heard, almost sending Hinata jumping off his seat in surprise. Bokuto instantly caught Kuroo’s gaze.

“Rock-paper-scissors on who gets to get the laundry!” Bokuto yelled.

“You’re on!” Kuroo grinned.

“Rock-Paper-Scissors!”

“I win!” Bokuto hooted, holding up ‘scissors’ in the air.

“Dang it,” Kuroo cursed. “I’ve been losing these things lately. Tell me you aren’t cheating Bo.”

“I don’t have to get the laundry! I don’t have to get the laundry!” Bokuto sang as Kuroo grumbled to fetch the washing.

“Why do you guys play rock-paper-scissors to get the laundry?” Kageyama asked.

“Well you see, Washy-chan is a bit temperamental because of her old age,” Bokuto explained. “Sometimes she doesn’t really drain the water completely when we get the rinsed clothes so whoever gets the laundry has to squeeze the water individually out of the clothes before we hang them to dry.”

“Oh,” Kageyama and Hinata chorused. Just then, the door to the diner opened and Akaashi walked inside. They were almost engulfed by their brown coat and green scarf and Bokuto fought the urge give them a hug.

“Hinata-san, Kageyama-san,” they nodded, shrugging off their coat. “How’s the training going?”

“Tired, but fun!” Hinata grinned. Akaashi smiled.

“I admire your resiliency.”

“How have you been, Akaashi?” Bokuto asked, leaning slightly forward in his chair. “You’re here pretty early.”

“I was able to finish my work on time. My adviser said that my thesis is well on it’s way,” Akaashi said proudly.

“That’s great!” Bokuto congratulated them, even though he didn’t really know the first thing when it came to writing a thesis. But it was something Akaashi was proud of nonetheless.

“Do we… really need a thesis to finish college?” Kageyama asked in a small voice. “Can’t you like, get out of it?”

“Sadly, no,” Akaashi shook their head.

“If we get scouted do you think we won’t have to go to college anymore?” Hinata asked, tugging Kageyama’s sleeve.

“If it is, then I’m going to set like crazy during Nationals,” Kageyama said determinedly.

“Scouts?” Bokuto asked. “Like, Boy Scouts?”

“They’re people who look out for players to join the professional volleyball league,” Kageyama explained. “If they take interest in you, they’ll offer you a chance to train and play in a professional team.”

“Woah! That would be great for you guys,” Bokuto said.

“Right?” Hinata bounced in his seat. “And then you get to be on TV and people will interview you. They might even make posters of you! And you get to have really cool nicknames for yourself.”

“You could be the Orange Dwarf,” Kageyama snickered.

“And you’re the Guy Who Sends People Running for the Hills When He Smiles,” Hinata fumed.

“That’s not a nickname,” Akaashi deadpanned. Bokuto and Kageyama laughed. Akaashi chuckled slightly at Hinata’s attempt to think of a better nickname before looking up at something behind Bokuto with apparent shock in their eyes.

“B-Bokuto-san…” they pointed. Bokuto felt a chill run through his spine.

“I-Is it, a ghost?” he stammered.

“Kuroo-san!” Hinata exclaimed. Bokuto turned around to find Kuroo completely drenched from head to toe with a miserable look on his face, like a cat that was unwillingly given a bath.

“Bokuto. It’s Washy-chan…” he croaked.

“No…” Bokuto felt his heart plummet.

“Bokuto, I’m so sorry,” he heard Akaashi say.

“Did you try fiddling with the knobs?” Bokuto asked. “We still have a lot of duct-tape, maybe the hose has a leak again.”

“Wait—”

“It’s no use, Bo,” Kuroo shook his head. “When I opened the hatch the water just burst out everywhere and then it made this weird noise and stopped working. I tried everything.”

“Wait, who’s Washy-chan?” Akaashi asked. Bokuto turned to them with teary eyes.

“Our washing machine.”

“They named their washing machine Washy-chan,” Kageyama explained.

“Kuroo, we’re doomed,” Bokuto wailed. “Remember the last time I tried to hand-wash something?”

“I know! I wasn’t any better!” Kuroo exclaimed.

“Um, if you want, you could use mine?” Akaashi offered. “It’s just my dad and I at home so you can bring your laundry over.”

“Really, Akaashi?” Kuroo asked, looking hopeful.

“Sure,” Akaashi nodded.

“Yes! You’re a god. Or goddess. Or divine being!” Bokuto hugged them.

“I prefer goddess.”

“Goddess!”

At that moment, Bokuto had said yes without hesitation. But when he woke up the next morning to bring his laundry over to Akaashi’s, he realized he actually had many hesitations. For one, Akaashi would have to see his and Kuroo’s dirty laundry. Second, he’d be in Akaashi’s house. Third, whether or not Akaashi’s father would be around made Bokuto nervous. And fourth, which complicated the previous all the others, was that he had a huge crush on Akaashi at this point.

Because of that, Bokuto decided to actually make some preparations for coming over to Akaashi’s house. Firstly, he bagged his and Kuroo’s laundry, arranging the clothes in such a way that the whites are separated from the colored clothes, and that the dirtier pieces of laundry, which were mostly Bokuto’s aprons, were in the inner part of the pile so that when he put them in the washing machine, Akaashi wouldn’t have to see it. And then, since they agreed to meet just before lunchtime, Bokuto decided to make lunch, as a token of thanks for being able to use their washing machine. Lastly, even though Bokuto showered before going to sleep, he showered again. Before leaving, his eyes fell on the mauve scarf that Akaashi gave him the other night. Bokuto loved remembering the feeling of Akaashi’s hands tying their scarf around his neck. Smiling, Bokuto took it, even if it didn’t match his outfit, and tied it around his neck.

After a short bus ride and a good amount of walking, Bokuto reached a small, one-story house that was Akaashi’s home. With a deep breath, he rang the doorbell and waited anxiously to see if he did follow Akaashi’s directions correctly. Thankfully, it was them who opened the door. Bokuto had wondered what it would be like to see the place where Akaashi lived that he didn’t stop to consider how they looked when they were just chilling at home on a Sunday. It was a bit of a change, but it was kind of cute seeing Akaashi wearing sweatpants and a sweater.

“You’re wearing the scarf,” was the first thing Akaashi said. Bokuto’s hand instinctively went up to tug on the soft lining of the scarf.

“Oh, yeah,” Bokuto chuckled. “It’s really been keeping me warm lately,” he said, before remembering ‘Duh, that’s what scarves do.’

“Come inside, it must be cold,” Akaashi opened the door wider and Bokuto stepped in, making sure to leave his shoes near the door.

“I, uh, brought some lunch if that’s okay,” Bokuto added as he stepped into their living room. It was a pretty small space with everything neatly arranged. There were quite a number of houseplants, probably even more than furniture, and the walls were decorated with framed prints.

“Is it weird to say that I somewhat expected you with bring lunch?” Akaashi chuckled, taking the bag full of food containers from Bokuto and dropping them off at the kitchen.

“Not really,” Bokuto rubbed his head, silently cheering that he thought of bringing lunch. “We have known each other quite a while.”

“That’s true,” Akaashi cocked their head. “It feels like just yesterday when I went to your diner for the first time. And now it’s almost winter.” Bokuto felt himself smile at the thought. “Oh, right. Our washing machine is in the bathroom. Down the hallway, first room to the left.”

“Thanks again,” Bokuto chuckled. “I can’t imagine having to wash my apron by hand.”

“Use all the bleach and detergent you need,” Akaashi said. Bokuto entered their bathroom and busied himself with putting his clothes into the washing machine that, thankfully, looked nothing like Washy-chan who had so much duct tape holding her together. Once Bokuto was done he entered the living room again to find Akaashi sitting on the couch with hot chocolate for the two of them.

“I wasn’t sure if you were a coffee or a tea person,” Akaashi spoke up. Bokuto felt his mouth quirk up in a smile as he inhaled the sweet scent of cocoa.

“How did you know I was a hot chocolate person?”

“Just a guess,” Akaashi raised an eyebrow, smiling over their cup of hot chocolate.

“So,” Bokuto said, after sipping what was probably the best hot chocolate he’d ever tasted. “What are you usually up to on Sundays?”

“Well, sewing, mostly,” Akaashi said. “I like to work on sewing new clothing pieces. Sometimes I record videos of them for my channel. Nothing too exciting.”

“Are you kidding me? That’s probably the coolest thing!” Bokuto grinned. “It’s amazing that you can make your own clothes. I don’t even know how to fix the holes in my jacket,” he added, showing off the sleeves of his jacket where there were two gaping holes that just grew larger over time.

“I could teach you how,” Akaashi shrugged, holding out their hand. “It’s a good skill to learn.” Bokuto quickly shrugged off his jacket while Akaashi pulled out a metal biscuit tin, that Bokuto knew was a sewing kit. “Now, when fixing holes, what I like to do is either cover the hole or embroider something over it.”

“Oohh!! Can you embroider something?” Bokuto asked excitedly.

“Alright,” Akaashi chuckled. “Would a flower be okay?”

“Sure!” He watched, transfixed, as Akaashi’s fingers moved nimbly to thread a needle with thread before picking up the jacket. Then, they ran the needle under the jacket and through the hole repeatedly to form a petal shape. It was quite relaxing to watch and Bokuto didn’t feel the need to say anything but to just sit and sip occasionally from his hot chocolate.

“Finished,” Akaashi said, giving Bokuto his jacket back. In place of the holes, there was a pink flower sewn near the sleeve.

“It looks awesome!” Bokuto quickly put it on. “Good as new! Right?”

“I’m glad you like it,” Akaashi smiled, packing away their sewing kit. “I should prepare lunch already.”

“Alright,” Bokuto stood up.

“By I, I mean me, because you’re a guest here,” Akaashi said. “You already brought food.”

“If you think you’re able to make me sit out helping in the kitchen, you’re dead wrong,” Bokuto grinned. Akaashi sighed.

“Alright, then. Come on over.”

Another thing Bokuto didn’t foresee as Something That Could Happen in Akaashi’s House was them cooking together, which turned out to be the One Thing that Bokuto would like to do before he died. Akaashi wasn’t as fast as Bokuto was, which they didn’t need to be, but there was such obvious care in what they were doing. It was nice not having to rush so much in the kitchen. Bokuto remembered the first time he tried out helping his mother in the kitchen and learning the joy of feeding others. ‘You’d make a good housewife,’ his mother had joked, but Bokuto didn’t care about how _girly_ people said cooking was. After heating the soft tofu stew and making the fried rice, Akaashi set the table for two of them and they sat down to eat.

Bokuto knew he must have it bad when it came to his crush on Akaashi. It’s not like that time he had a fanboy crush on Guy Fieri from his favorite American show, ‘Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives’, and decided to dye his hair like him. Or that one time he had a crush on one of the cooks at Bird’s Nest back when Ukai-san managed him. Or that slight friend-crush he had on Kuroo. Bokuto knew that this time, his crush felt a bit more _real._ And he knew that because of how casual and everyday it was to eat lunch with Akaashi in a house all to themselves, and yet he could imagine doing this every day. He almost wanted his clothes to keep spinning in their washing machine forever so that he could stick around longer. But when his clothes were all done and washed, folded and placed back in his bag, Bokuto finally had to part with Akaashi at the door.

When Akaashi told him to come over again someday, Bokuto said, ‘I will’, with full certainty.

…

“Fancy seeing you here, Tsukki,” Kuroo greeted once he entered the small movie theater where Tsukishima worked. As always, whenever they meet up, there’s always a slightly annoyed look on his face.

“You literally brought me here the other day.” He was sitting behind the glass ticket booth with almost nobody around in sight. It was pretty late at night and almost time for the last full show. The perfect time to watch a horror movie.

“You always look so down when you see me,” Kuroo mock-pouted and sat down at one of the desks outside. The lobby outside the movie theater was quite small and roomy, decorated with different movie posters and a small blackboard of the daily movie schedules. “This place is pretty neat. Where is everyone else?”

“It’s just Terushima-san, the owner of this whole place, and he’s taking a break. We only have a few reservations for the last screening,” Tsukishima explained. “So, I take it you’re here to watch the movie.”

“Duh, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me that ‘Geongjiam: Horror Asylum’ would be showing here,” Kuroo exclaimed. “I’ve been wanting to not-pirate this movie for so long.”

“I guess I forgot,” Tsukishima yawned. Under the yellow light in the ticket booth, Kuroo could see the dark circles under his eyes.

“You look terrible,” he said.

“Gee, thanks,” Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

“Seriously. Do you get enough sleep working a job like this?”

“Just enough. But I do get free movies,” Tsukishima shrugged.

“Is that so?” Kuroo raised an eyebrow, taking his wallet from his pocket. “In that case I would like to buy a ticket and for you to join me in watching.”

“How do you know I haven’t watched the movie yet?” Tsukishima asked. Kuroo’s face fell.

“Well, you can always watch it _again._ I heard it’s a pretty good movie and—”

“Relax,” Tsukishima interrupted. “You’re in luck. I haven’t watched it.”

“Thank god, I thought I’d have to watch it buy myself and get scared out of my glam pants,” Kuroo sighed.

“I can’t believe you’re still wearing those,” Tsukishima groaned. “But I heard the movie is terrifying. And, it’s a found-footage film.”

“Right! That’s why I wanted to watch it,” Kuroo said excitedly. “I was thinking of doing an episode on it depending on how I like it.” Just as he spoke, the door opened and a group of friends walked in. Kuroo took it as a sign to quickly pay for his ticket.

“What seat number?” Tsukishima asked, pointing at the seating chart posted on the window.

“Ummm what do you suggest?”

“3C.”

“3C it is,” Kuroo said. Tsukishima stamped his ticket before handing it back to him. “I’ll save you a seat,” he grinned before entering the theater. It was a simple thirty-seater space with a screen covering a good half of the wall. The seats inside weren’t the standard cinema seats and were simple, wooden chairs spaced closely to each other. Kuroo was pleased to find that there was a small stack of blankets on the front row and a cushion at each chair. He settled in his seat and waited for the other people to come in. Tsukishima coming in was hard to miss.

“So, your manager’s covering for you?” Kuroo whispered.

“Yup. He’s pretty laid back,” Tsukishima whispered back. He was quite tall for the seats and Kuroo watched him make an effort to tuck his legs in. “It’ll start in a minute.”

“Are you ready for it?”

“Duh. I’ll hold your hand if you’re scared,” Tsukishima smirked. Kuroo instinctively glanced at Tsukishima’s hand, which hung over the edge of the seat between them and swallowed.

“Right back at you,” he replied. While waiting for the movie to start, nothing was there to distract Kuroo from glancing over at Tsukishima. The movie was engaging, scary, and amazingly put-together enough to hold Kuroo’s attention and he already began to build ideas on how to write a podcast episode for it. At the same time, he was still aware of how Tsukishima was as engaged in the movie as he was. Halfway through the film, he was sitting forward in his seat, clutching the chair cushion tight in his arms. Neither of them were the type to talk or eat while watching movies, and Kuroo could easily see himself watching even more movies with Tsukishima. Once the movie was done and they had left the small theater, all of Kuroo’s thoughts came exploding out.

“That was an amazing movie!” he exclaimed, lingering outside the ‘Employees Only’ room, waiting for Tsukishima to change out of his uniform and pack his stuff up. “The adaptation of the found-footage film format into the more modern context of Youtube livestream videos was such a great touch.”

“You’re going to use it for your next podcast episode, right?” Tsukishima asked, stepping out of the room. He was wearing his usual gray hoodie, the one that Kuroo had seen so many times that he began to suspect that Tsukishima had several of them, as well as a black beanie that he pulled over his blonde hair. He looked so much more awake now compared to two hours earlier.

“Only if you’ll help me write the script,” Kuroo smirked.

“Only if I’ll get another shout-out,” Tsukishima smiled crookedly. Kuroo didn’t even need to offer bringing Tsukishima home because he followed him straight to his pick-up truck and slipped into the passenger seat. He even buckled his seatbelt in right after. “I really like the build-up of the entire thing too. That part when the stove in the tent turned on and the power in the tent ran out right after was great.”

“And that scene of the girl in the room with that weird thing!” Kuroo exclaimed as he pulled out of the parking spot.

“It’s the best combination of jumpscares and atmospheric scares,” Tsukishima added. “And the twist at the end was totally earned.”

“Koreans know how to make a good horror movie,” Kuroo grinned. “What horror movies will you guys be showing next?”

“We’ll be showing some classics next and what I can confirm is we’ll be showing ‘Poltergeist’ and ‘The Thing,’” Tsukishima answered. Kuroo smiled wryly.

“If I said I haven’t watched any of those, would you lose all your respect for me?”

“Is that why you haven’t made an episode on them?” Tsukishima laughed.

“I just never got around to watching them!” Kuroo protested. “And at this point I’m not sure if I need to.”

“’The Thing’ is great, one of my favorite classic horror movies,” Tsukishima said. Kuroo could tell he was in his element talking about these things by the slight change in his tone. “’Poltergeist’ is just, I don’t know, a classic when you think about how movies worked with the lack of CGI. It scared me to death as a kid,” he finished with traces of a wistful smile on his face.

“I’m smelling an origin story here,” Kuroo glanced at him. “Spill.”

“I uh, used to sneak into theaters to watch horror movies with my brother when I was young,” Tsukishima explained. “I was tall for my age so I was always allowed in. ‘Poltergeist’ was the first horror movie I watched and I was scared of bathroom mirrors for about two weeks.” Kuroo chuckled and Tsukishima shot him a look. “Tell anyone and you’re dead.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” Kuroo grinned.

“Anyway, watching horror movies kind of became ‘our thing,’” Tsukishima said. “We didn’t really have much money growing up since my dad wouldn’t pay the stupid child support but whenever we did, we splurged on movies.”

“That’s a good origin story,” Kuroo nodded. “Thanks for telling me. Also, your dad sucks.”

“He does,” Tsukishima nodded. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“I spilled my origin story so you spill yours.”

“Ah,” Kuroo nodded. “Well, I got into horror movies much later than you. The first one I watched was ‘Jaws’, back when I was five years old. It scared me to death of course, and I was too scared to swim in the ocean for so long. And then later on in my last year of high school, I was stuck filling out that career sheet that they give everyone. So, being the procrastinator I was, I watched TV the entire afternoon and stumbled on ‘Jaws’ again. Then, I realized that doing something with film was what I wanted to do. But, since I only wrote ‘movies’ on my career sheet, I had to redo the whole thing.”

“There’s just something about horror movies,” Tsukishima said. “It takes pure genius to make the audience scared of something on a screen and even more for them to go back to it and still feel that same fear or discover something entirely new.”

The car neared Tsukishima’s apartment complex and Kuroo pulled to a stop. “I feel the same way,” he smiled. Tsukishima looked at him thoughtfully, as if he was about to say something, before seemingly changing his mind and unbuckling his seatbelt.

“Anyway, thanks again for the ride,” he said, opening the door.

“Don’t mention it,” Kuroo shook his head. “Say hello to Giraffe Dinosaur for me.”

“It’s a Brachiosaurus,” Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

“Brachiosaurus, Shmaciosaurus. Anyway, let’s watch another movie soon.”

Tsukishima’s lips quirked up in a smile. “Poltergeist?”

“I was gonna say both but, yeah. Poltergeist.”

“Poltergeist.”

“Poltergeist.” And with that, Tsukishima shut the door and walked to the apartment building. Kuroo found something flutter in his stomach as he quickly recalled the look on Tsukishima’s face when he said ‘Poltergeist.’ He tried to imagine a younger version of Tsukishima, who was probably as tall as Hinata, watching ‘Poltergeist’ for the first time in a movie theater, eyes wide with a huge smile on his face. Kuroo had a good number of friends, but something about Tsukishima made him wish that they had known each other for longer. 'And maybe we have,' Kuroo thought, remembering Tsukishima's long twitter reviews on his podcast that Kuroo had thanked him for even before they had met in person. Kuroo hardly believed in destiny, but his friendship with Tsukishima may be convincing him otherwise. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> press F to pay respects to Washy-chan
> 
> also, i hope you guys like cooking show host!oikawa. tbh i was gonna make him a minor character until i remembered that oikawa would make a great host. it seems like Daishou has made an appearance again hMMMmMM i wonder what this will mean for Bird's Nest's chances of winning the competition hMMmMMM. i know this seems like a lot to put into a fanfic but i do love adding a bit of intrigue to a story so i hope you guys stick around to see how things play out
> 
> (sidenote: Geongjiam: Horror Asylum is a really good korean horror movie if you guys are looking for a nice scary movie to watch)


	7. oceans apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by: the Lesbians

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone!! thank you so much for all the love this fic has been receiving! because of that i really got into writing this next chapter and it's being released a bit early. a lot is happening in this chapter and if you've been waiting for even more kurotsukki moments, this one's for you~~
> 
> (also, a humble thank you to those who paid respects to washy-chan. thanks to that, you shall no longer lose your socks in washing machines)

One perk that Yachi found after her favorite study café closed down was that Kuroo and Bokuto more than welcomed her to use the large tables in Bird’s Nest to work. ‘It’s the least we can do for all your work with helping remodel the diner,’ Kuroo had told her. ‘Also, because you’re pretty cool.’ Yachi wasn’t sure what part of her exactly was ‘pretty cool’ but she was flattered by it nonetheless and found herself in Bird’s Nest every morning. Another perk was that she wasn’t the only one studying in Bird’s Nest in the morning.

“Yachi-san! Good morning,” Yamaguchi greeted as Yachi sat down at their usual table.

“Good morning,” Yachi smiled, seeing that he was wearing the clip she gave him again. “I brought some melon bread if that’s okay,” she said, setting down the white paper bag from her favorite bakery on the table.

“I love melon bread,” Yamaguchi said. The thermos flasks of hot tea were already on the table and Yachi helped herself to a cup. It had been a mutual agreement between the two of them to bring breakfast: Yachi took care of bringing bread and Yamaguchi made tea. It began to feel as if her day had only started once she had breakfast with Yamaguchi. He even said that it was a welcome change for him compared to waking up late and running to class without having eaten breakfast.

“Oh, I’m here to return the book you lent me,” Yachi suddenly remembered, rooting around her bag before handing Yamaguchi back his copy of ‘Joyful Noise’, a poetry book inspired by different insects and were written in two voices.

“How’d you like it?” Yamaguchi asked excitedly. “I hope my annotations on the pages didn’t bother you much.”

“I re-read it several times,” Yachi answered. “And the annotations actually helped me understand some parts better.” In all honesty, she enjoyed reading the annotations as much as poetry. Yamaguchi had neat handwriting and made good use of arrows. Even the absentminded doodles on the corners of the pages were things that Yachi liked to peruse.

“I’m glad,” Yamaguchi smiled, taking his book back. “I actually like going back to reading this book once in a while, especially after having to read a whole lot of jargon in texts.”

“I see what you mean,” Yachi said. “Sometimes I like to sketch or paint a small art piece after I’ve been stressed out with designs. I just take a blank piece of paper and let all my thoughts flow.”

After finishing their breakfast, they worked on their own assignments, sometimes with one of their phones playing music. Eventually, they’d just switch off the music and fill the air with the sounds of their conversation. It was easy conversation, one that didn’t distract either of them from working. It was quite mundane, but Yachi could see herself doing this again the next day, and the next, and the day after.

After a good while, they packed up their things and left for class. Yachi noticed how Yamaguchi would wait for her to finish putting her coat and gloves on before leaving the diner, or how he wouldn’t hesitate to help carry her large folder, or how he always moved to stand on the side nearest to the road when they were walking. She knew that he did this because Yamaguchi was a genuinely nice person, but part of her also hoped that he did this for her specifically.

“So, did you have any favorites from the book?” Yamaguchi asked, looking at her.

“I couldn’t help but like all of them,” Yachi said. “But I liked the last one, about the caterpillar turning into a chrysalis during the winter. Especially since it describes the changing of the season so well. And of course, the book lice poem.”

“I loved the book lice poem too,” Yamaguchi grinned. “I like all the literature references since it’s ironic how they just eat the books instead of reading them.”

“True,” Yachi giggled. “And it is a cute, opposites-attract love story.”

“Are you, um, interested in opposites-attract love stories?” Yamaguchi asked. “Just asking! Since I was thinking of other books I could recommend to you.”

“Oh, I don’t exactly have a preference,” Yachi said.

“I see…” Yamaguchi nodded. Suddenly, a cold gust of wind blew through them and Yachi drew her coat closer around her.

“It’s definitely winter already,” Yachi said. “I almost overslept this morning because of how warm my bed was compared to the rest of my apartment.”

“I can relate,” Yamaguchi sighed. “The windows had fogged up in the morning when I woke up! I have no idea how Hinata and Kageyama manage to wake up even earlier and jog all the way to the gym when it takes me twenty minutes to get out of bed.”

“Being an athlete sure is tough,” Yachi said. “They’ve also been working at Bokuto-san’s diner at night.”

“They never do run out of energy,” Yamaguchi chuckled. “Tsukki has just been calling them monsters at this point. That and loudly complaining that the semester should already end. Though I can’t say I disagree.”

“Me either. I miss being home already.”

“You live in Miyagi too, right?” Yamaguchi asked.

“Yeah! But I guess we went to different high schools,” Yachi said. The two of them were inside the English department building already and Yachi quickly felt the warmth return to her fingertips.

“Maybe we can see each other during the break.”

“Maybe,” Yachi blushed slightly as they approached her classroom. Yamaguchi handed her things back. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Yup!” Yamaguchi nodded. Tomorrow was both Kuroo’s birthday and the semifinals of ‘Tokyo’s Best Diner’. Bokuto made a groupchat for everyone, minus the birthday celebrant himself, to plan for a surprise. Yachi had volunteered to make cupcakes and Yamaguchi agreed to help her. “Text me if there’s anything else I need to buy before coming.”

“Sure thing,” Yachi said, waving goodbye before they parted ways for the day.

…

“How about this one Tsukki?” Yamaguchi asked, showing him his checkered, button-up shirt.

“It looks just as good as the other five hundred shirts you tried on,” he groaned, rubbing at his eyes behind his glasses.

“I just tried seventeens shirts!” Yamaguchi protested, looking at himself in the mirror. “Nah, the colors look too much like the American flag. I should have gone for the green one.”

“Jesus Christ, Yamaguchi just pick a shirt already,” Tsukishima sighed exasperatedly. “We’re just surprising Kuroo and going to the TV competition thing. They’re not even going to catch you on camera.”

“No, you’re going to be surprising Kuroo and going to the TV competition. I’ll still be helping out Yachi with the cupcakes.”

“That’s what it’s about, isn’t it?” Tsukishima smirked. Yamaguchi felt his face flush and hid it by putting on his green button-up shirt again. “Yamaguchi, we’ve known each other since we were practically infants.”

“Grade school isn’t infant age.”

“Not important. Anyway, point is I know when you like a girl.”

“She’s not just a girl,” Yamaguchi muttered, buttoning up his shirt.

“Just be yourself or whatever,” Tsukishima said. “She probably likes you already. You’re both the kind of people who’d stop to help a kitten down from a tree.” Yamaguchi slumped on his bed.

“Can you pass me Giraffe Dinosaur?” he asked, holding his hand out to the stuffed animal that Kuroo got Tsukishima for his birthday.

“It’s a Brachiosaurus.”

“Whatever.”

“Say the name.”

“Brach-io-sau-rus,” Yamaguchi enunciated. Giraffe Dinosaur sailed across the room and landed on his chest with a soft flop. He hugged it to his chest. “Is it possible to feel so nervous and calm at the same time?”

“Well…” Tsukishima began. Yamaguchi closed his eyes, preparing himself for some rare-Tsukishima wisdom or the usual-Tsukishima sarcasm, only to receive neither. “That’s rough, buddy.”

“Did you just quote Zuko from Avatar?” Yamaguchi huffed.

“Perhaps…”

“I hate you,” Yamaguchi tossed Giraffe Dinosaur back to him. Tsukishima caught it and placed it on his lap. He didn’t like to admit it but Yamaguchi could tell Tsukishima quite enjoyed Giraffe Dinosaur’s company. “That reminds me, did you get a gift for Kuroo yet?”

“I’ll just pick something up on the way,” Tsukishima adjusted his glasses.

“Liar. I saw you smuggle a paper bag into your closet last night,” Yamaguchi snickered, seeing the embarrassed look on his friend’s face. “You don’t have to pretend that you tolerate him.”

“I do or else I’ll never hear the end of it from either of you two,” Tsukishima scoffed. “Also, you may be running late.” Yamaguchi frantically checked his watch.

“Crap, you’re right!” he jumped out of bed and ran out of the room to quickly put on his shoes.

“Nice shirt by the way!” Tsukishima yelled as Yamaguchi left the building. While running, he pulled out his phone to quickly text Yachi that he was on his way. Luckily, he didn’t need to buy anything else so he reached Yachi’s apartment with enough time to spare catching his breath. Finally, he rang the doorbell.

Yachi opened it almost immediately. “Yamaguchi-kun!” she greeted, opening the door quickly. “You’re just in time.” She was wearing a cute, pink apron over a white sweater and beige pants. Instead of her usual hairclips, she had braided the front parts of her hair and clipped in behind her head. Yamaguchi liked how it looked.

“I like being punctual,” he laughed nervously, taking off his shoes and stepping into the apartment where he brought Yachi to before they even became friends. That night, as much as he told himself not to snoop around a girl’s apartment, he couldn’t help but notice how homey and organized it was. ‘She is an Interior Design major after all,’ he remembered. She lacked some things in the living room like a TV and a couch, most likely because she didn’t particularly need it, but she did have a low table with a kotatsu and a beanbag chair. What took up most of her room was her desk that had different acrylic containers full of stationery that Yamaguchi later learned was used for her bullet journal.

“I already started measuring out the ingredients so we can get a head start,” Yachi said, standing by the dining table.

“Great, just tell me what to do,” Yamaguchi grinned. As it turns out, his main role was to be the one to mix all the ingredients while Yachi added them in. “Do you bake often, Yachi-san?” he asked as they took turns scooping cupcake batter into the pans.

“Yup! I did it more during high school and I was even able to sell them to my classmates. But ever since “going to college I haven’t been able to find the time much,” Yachi said. “I do like to bake when I’m really stressed though.”

“That explains all the cookies you brought to lunch during midterms,” Yamaguchi chuckled.

“You got it,” Yachi giggled. “Have you baked before?”

“I did,” Yamaguchi nodded. “Tsukki and I had to bake cookies for one of the cultural festivals in high school. But it turned out to be a disaster,” he laughed while remembering. “We accidentally but salt instead of sugar and forgot to add in baking powder.”

“No…” Yachi gasped.

“That’s not even the worst part,” Yamaguchi grinned. “Some of the cookies burned, some were undercooked, because they were different sizes. We tried to frost them with red letters but since the cookies were warm, the frosting melted and looked like someone smeared blood on them.” Yachi couldn’t help but laugh loudly.

“I’m sorry but that sounds like a disaster,” she said in between laughs. “What did you do with the cookies?”

“We ended up eating them ourselves while watching TV,” Yamaguchi said. “According to Tsukki, they weren’t that bad.”

“I watch this show on Netflix called ‘Nailed It’ where they invite amateur bakers to bake all these really technical and impressive cakes and stuff. Most of the time the contestants fail at what they’re doing but the judges always applaud them for their hard work. Although it is funny to see all the fails, I love how proud the contestants are for doing something they’re far from familiar with,” Yachi said.

“Nothing bad about taking risks, right?” Yamaguchi grinned, handing her the cupcake pan. Yachi took it from her and her fingers lingered on his before she took it back.

“Nothing bad with taking risks,” she repeated, placing the cupcakes in the oven. “So, frosting?”

“Frosting,” Yamaguchi nodded. “This time, I know not to frost the cupcakes while they’re still warm.”

“Good job, Yamaguchi!” Yachi grinned, patting his arm before putting butter in a bowl. Yamaguchi felt his face flush as he followed Yachi’s lead. This time, all he did was make the frosting as Yachi instructed and let her do the decorating. With Yamaguchi’s suggestion and a bit of melted chocolate, they were able to make the cupcakes have cat faces.

“This is cute, if I do say so myself,” Yamaguchi grinned as they put the cupcakes into a box and got ready to leave.

“Do you think Kuroo-san’s going to like them?”

“He’s going to love them! According to Tsukishima, he’s basically a giant dork.”

“Even if he does look intimidating at first,” Yachi laughed. After a short bus ride, they met up with the others at the front of the building. Yamaguchi quickly spied the hastily gift-wrapped package in Tsukishima’s hands and smiled to himself.

“There they are! Hey guys!” Bokuto spotted them first and waved from where he was sitting.

“Kuroo-san! Happy Birthday,” Yachi skipped over to them, Yamaguchi following behind with the box.

“Let’s see the cupcakes!” Hinata hopped up and down. Yamaguchi and Yachi shared a smile and opened up the box. Kuroo squealed.

“Aww, you guys,” Kuroo grinned broadly. “They’re so cute!” Kenma quickly brought out his phone to snap a picture.

“That’s our Yamaguchi and Yachi!” Hinata grinned, mussing his hair.

“Quick Akaashi! Bring out the candles!” Bokuto urged. After several attempts to light up a candle because it was windy outside before they huddled in a circle around Kuroo and the cupcake box, they all sang ‘Happy Birthday’ at very different tempos and almost entirely off-key.

“Thanks, you guys,” Kuroo laughed before blowing out his candle.

“Now for the gifts!” Bokuto exclaimed, holding a gift-wrapped package to him. “Open mine first!” Yamaguchi chuckled, seeing how Bokuto was evidently more excited about this than Kuroo was. Bokuto’s gift was a t-shirt with both of their faces, Akaashi gave hair gel, Kenma gave an erotic, gay novel, which was apparently a running gag between the two of them, while Hinata and Kageyama gave what appeared to be a macaroni art portrait of Kuroo that they had been working on for a week. And finally, Tsukishima handed over his gift.

“Aww, Tsukki, you didn’t have to,” Kuroo playfully winked at him.

“Just open it,” Tsukishima muttered.

“Yes Dad,” Kuroo sang as he opened the gift to reveal, of all things, a shark plushie. Kuroo chuckled. “’Jaws’. I get it. Thanks, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi smiled to himself as Kuroo hugged Tsukishima.

“Can we eat the cupcakes now?” Kenma asked. After handing out the cupcakes and eating them on the way to the floor where the cooking competition was being held, the group parted ways and Yamaguchi joined his friends at the audience section. He felt uneasy having to surrender his phone at the gate outside but with the cases of people pirating the episode, he understood why. Kenma had the good sense of bringing his game console with him which Kageyama and Hinata were avidly watching. Tsukishima had the weird sense of bringing a sleeping mask with him to catch a few z’s before the competition started. Yamaguchi decided to watch the stage managers fix the set and also watch out for Yachi. Soon enough, he spotted her familiar head of blonde hair along with Akaashi as they headed to their places. Yamaguchi wondered if Yachi was looking for them in the audience only to find his answer when their eyes met from across the TV set. He smiled and waved.

…

Kenma was not a particularly affectionate person, nor did he strive to be one, which made his and Kuroo’s friendship quite funny from the point of view of other people. The origin of their friendship could be traced all the way back to when they were the only kids of similar age in their neighborhood, and therefore obligated by nature itself to become friends. Despite their differences in personality, they eventually bonded over a shared love of Pokemon, American Christmas movies, and reading bad Wattpad fanfiction when they were bored. Kuroo was always there to push him out of his comfort zone as much as he was there to reign him in when that ‘venturing out of the comfort zone’ didn’t out so well.

What did frustrate Kenma was seeing how Kuroo was holding himself back. Back when he decided to work at Bird’s Nest with Bokuto, Kenma agreed that it was a good idea since it was a job and he did get free bed and board with it. However, when Kuroo sidelined the work that he wanted to do for a long time, which was his podcast, was when Kenma started to think that the diner job may not be the best place for Kuroo at the moment. As much as he knew he needed to tell Kuroo this, Kenma just wasn’t sure if his friend would be ready to hear it.

‘And he does seem to enjoy his work at Bird’s Nest,’ Kenma told himself as he watched Bokuto and Kuroo get to work on their dish. They had an advantage now, since they won the Audience Vote that allowed them fifteen minutes of extra time and because the dish they had to cook, which was any kind of stew, was right up their alley. ‘Either that, or he’s more attached to the idea of being a reliable person in Bokuto’s life.’

“And now, the rest of the cooks are off! But it seems like Bird’s Nest has used their advantage well and are arguably heads and shoulders above the competition,” Oikawa announced.

“They’ll win this round for sure!” Hinata cheered. He, Kageyama, and Yamaguchi were standing up and leaning over the railings to get a closer look. Just watching him made Kenma feel exhausted as he sat down next to Tsukishima.

“I don’t know how you spend every day living with them,” he sighed.

“It’s why I’m always tired,” Tsukishima said. “How did you manage being around Bokuto and Kuroo when Akaashi wasn’t around?”

“Drinking Dr. Pepper gives me a good ten minutes with them.”

“I’d toast an imaginary Dr. Pepper to that,” Tsukishima agreed. Just then, Oikawa began his individual interviews and stopped by the Bird’s Nest table to check on them. Kenma and Tsukishima craned their necks higher without leaving the comfort of their chairs.

“So, Bokuto and Kuroo, right?” Oikawa asked, nearing the station.

“You got that right,” Kuroo grinned, taking over camera duty while Bokuto was fixated on seasoning the stew. “Once again, we’d like to thank our fans for helping us win the Audience Vote. We’ll win this match for you guys!” he winked at the camera. If there’s anything Kuroo was, it was charismatic.

“Well, that may have been thanks in part to your, _interesting,_ choice of footwear,” Oikawa chuckled. A cameraman panned down to capture Kuroo’s stilettoed feet. “Tell me, Kuroo. How do you manage to cook delicious meals without tripping once in those heels?”

“While I have been practicing with these since I was born, I do admit it’s a risk to come here and cook for you guys while wearing these killer stilettos, but Bokuto and I wouldn’t have won second place in the previous challenge if we didn’t take a little risk,” Kuroo answered.

“And do you think you’ll snag first place this time?” Oikawa asked.

“Definitely,” Kuroo grinned.

“Such confidence!” Oikawa smiled at the cameras. “Thanks again Kuroo and best of luck to Bird’s Nest.”

After the given thirty-minute cooking period, it was time for the judges to sample the dishes again and this time, they visited Bird’s Nest’s station first. Just like last round, Kenma wasn’t worried at all that whatever Bokuto and Kuroo cooked would place them in the top three. “What we have for you today is basically a twist on our soft tofu stew, which is our diner’s signature menu item, by adding seafood.”

“It definitely looks and smells delicious,” one of the judges, Kenma forgot which, commented before they all began to dig into the dish.

“Once again, the layers of flavor have been done perfectly,” judge number two, aka the only female judge, said. “And there’s so much variety here with the seafood, tofu, vegetables, and noodles. It’s amazing that they don’t clash with each other. Once again, amazing work.”

‘Take that, Hattori Diner,’ Kenma smirked as he watched the judges move on. He usually wasn’t one who easily gets unnerved by someone he just met, but seeing Daishou and how he talked down to them really got under his skin.

Finally, it was time for Oikawa to announce the winners of that round. It was the only time that he and Tsukishima and stood up, though for Kenma, it was because he wanted to see the look on the Hattori Diner chefs.

“In third place, Kitsune Diner!” Oikawa announced. There was a round of applause, a shot of the chefs from Kitsune Diner hugging and celebrating, before the announcement continued. “In second place… Hattori Diner!”

“Ahh!” Hinata yelped. “Do you think-? Don’t you think-?” he stammered. Kenma watched the Hattori Diner chefs clap, visibly struggling not to let their disappointment show, and smiled reassuringly at Hinata.

“Don’t worry. They’ve got this.”

“And for our winner…” Oikawa flashed a smile at the cameras for the fiftieth time. “Bird’s Nest Diner!”

The cheer coming from Hinata, Kageyama, and Yamaguchi was almost deafening that Kenma instinctively shrunk back in his jacket. But he couldn’t help the wide grin forming on his face as he watched Kuroo and Bokuto cheering and hugging each other onstage and the booming ‘hey, hey, hey!’ coming from Bokuto. “They did, they actually did,” Kenma heard Tsukishima mutter in shock beside him.

“They’re kind of dumb but I think we should stop doubting them at this point,” Kenma said, patting Tsukishima on the shoulder. Half an hour later, they were gathered in the lobby of the building to celebrate. Kuroo and Bokuto talked excitedly in broken sentences, completing where the other left off, all the while with big, stupid grins on their faces. While scanning the crowd, Kenma saw Daishou. Their eyes met briefly, but long enough for Kenma to smirk at him and see his frustrated reaction.

“We should celebrate this win and Kuroo’s birthday,” Kageyama suggested.

“Diner, anyone?” Bokuto grinned.

“No, no, no. It’s my birthday, and you’re taking a break from cooking,” Kuroo shook his head. “Besides, I have something better planned.” Kenma raised an eyebrow, meeting Kuroo’s gaze, and knew exactly what he was going to suggest.

…

Kuroo had always wanted to go to a karaoke bar. He had been to some before, but it wasn’t the full experience of being in a karaoke bar when he just dragged either Bokuto or Kenma along. They couldn’t make good use of the food ordering services, since it would just be two people eating, nor would they experience the feeling of having to argue over who gets the mic, or sing a duet in front of a bunch of people. But now that he had a much larger group of friends, Kuroo was pushing for a karaoke session with all of them.

“Ahh, smell that?” Kuroo grinned, breathing deeply as he sat on one of the couches in the booth.

“Floral air freshener?” Tsukishima asked, taking the seat beside him. Bokuto and Hinata had gone ahead leafing through the songbook while Akaashi and Yachi went around gathering people’s orders.

“No, the scent of people ready to sing their lungs out tonight!” Kuroo grinned. “Haven’t you been to any of these, Tsukishima?”

“Once, with Yamaguchi and the noisy banshees over there,” Tsukishima said, pointing at Hinata and Kageyama who had apparently decided to sing a Naruto opening song.

“Oh my god, I bet you actually have a really good singing voice. Like, at first, you’re like ‘no way, I’m way too cool to be singing in a karaoke bar’ and then once someone passes you the mic you start belting out all the high notes like it’s nothing.”

“What makes you think that?” Tsukishima raised an eyebrow.

“Actually, it’s just a guess. But…” Kuroo took a mic from the table and handed the other to Tsukishima. “I’m willing to test out my theory,” he smirked.

“No,” Tsukishima said abruptly.

“Tsukki and Kuroo are gonna sing! Tsukki and Kuroo are gonna sing!” Bokuto yelled, pointing at them.

“Come on Stingyshima!” Hinata cheered.

“No, I’m not gonna sing,” Tsukishima protested, even as Kuroo stood up and pulled on his sleeve.

“Yamaguchi,” he ordered.

“Sir, yes sir!” Yamaguchi saluted and immediately stood by the door, barring Tsukishima from escape. There was an exchange between both of their stares, which were most likely threats, but Tsukishima lost. All Kuroo needed was another push.

“Come on, I even have the perfect song,” he grinned, leafing quickly through the songbook and keying the numbers in.

“Tsukki loves that song!” Yamaguchi cheered when ‘Sugar We’re Going Down Swingin’” started playing. Tsukishima looked more irritated than ever but Kuroo could tell that the emo kid that had been inside Tsukishima all along was ready to burst out.

“I’ll sing it all wrong if you don’t come up,” Kuroo challenged. At this point, everyone was cheering Tsukishima on and he had no more place to run to. Sighing, he stood up and lifted the mic. Kuroo grinned broadly.

“Am I more than you bargained for yet?”

Even though he didn’t quite get into the song as much as Kuroo did, who headbanged and gripped his microphone while singing his lungs out, Tsukishima visibly enjoyed it. Especially since he didn’t even need to look at the machine to read the lyrics, and instead, his eyes found Kuroo’s. Tsukishima mostly sang off-key, and he did adjust his glasses one too many times, and he bounced slightly on the balls of his feet, but Kuroo would be damned choosing another karaoke partner over Tsukishima Kei. After the song, they were both breathless with hoarse throats and the night had just begun but Tsukishima chuckled when they saw their score flashed on the screen.

“My turn next! My turn!” Bokuto grinned, jumping out of his seat and instantly keying the numbers in.

“Everyone, they said we can get drinks by the bar outside,” Akaashi announced.

“Nice!” Kuroo sat up again and headed for the door.

“I’m coming for the whipped cream,” Kenma said, joining him.

“I hope you only consume a normal, human-suited amount of whipped cream tonight.”

“Squirt the entire can into my mouth. Got it.”

“ _Kenma._ ”

“Fine.”

After loading a tray with beers and flavored soju, which were apparently Yachi and Kageyama’s favorite, and helping Kenma sneak the whipped cream canister under his jacket, they headed back to their room. Outside, the soundproofing didn’t quite stop the unmistakable backing track of ‘I Wanna Know What Love Is’ from coming through. Kuroo grinned, knowing how much Bokuto played this song, before opening the door.

“Drinks!” Hinata cheered when Kuroo set the tray down on the table. Yachi stared at the bottle of peach soju as if it was a dog ready to bite her.

“Something wrong?” Kuroo asked.

“Peach soju is responsible for my first time getting drunk,” she said.

“We won’t let you get too drunk this time,” Kageyama said, unscrewing a bottle of blueberry soju and drinking half of the bottle in one swig. ‘Way too make your point clear,’ Kuroo thought.

“We’ll bring you home again if anything happens,” Yamaguchi reassured. Yachi relaxed visibly and nodded. Kuroo smiled at the two of them and picked up a beer from the tray to watch Bokuto’s performance. It wasn’t how he usually sang it, in fact, he was actually singing the song instead of belting it out. And the look on his face was almost shy and hesitant. Kuroo clenched the cold, wet bottle of beer in his hand when he saw that Bokuto was looking right at Akaashi while he was singing, with the same look Kuroo had on his face whenever he looked at Bokuto, and that Akaashi had reciprocated.

He should have known. Ever since the first time Bokuto and Akaashi had met each other in front of the diner. Kuroo should have known it would come to this.

Other than him, it was Kenma who took notice. “Hey, Kuroo…”

“I think I need to go outside,” Kuroo cleared his throat. Kenma looked at him and nodded.

“Thanks, Kenma,” he croaked before leaving the room. He walked around and lingered in the lobby of the karaoke bar where customers in groups were waiting to be shown to their rooms. Kuroo pretended to have a better reason for being outside by staring at one of the paintings that hung in the lobby. He tried concentrating on the painting, which was basically just colorful streaks thrown on a canvas, instead of remembering the look Bokuto had on his face.

Would things have changed if Kuroo confessed sooner? Or did he not have a chance all this time? It would be sad if it was the former option because it meant Kuroo had actually blown his chance. Or was it sadder that his attempts all along were pointless. The whole reason he got into working at Bird’s Nest and starting his podcast after all was because of Bokuto. ‘But then again, maybe it’s better this way,’ he thought, drinking his beer. Bokuto probably liked Akaashi the moment he saw them. And Akaashi was pretty much everything Kuroo wasn’t. It was a hard pill to swallow, or rather, choke back, but Kuroo made an effort to so he could go back to the karaoke room and sing a bunch of Whitney Houston songs. Just as he dragged his gaze away from the painting he was staring at, he found Yamaguchi circling the lobby as well.

“Kuroo-san,” he greeted.

“Hey, Yamaguchi!” Kuroo grinned, trying to show that he was not in fact moping this entire time. “Whatcha looking for?”

“The bathroom. But…” he cocked his head. “What are you doing out here?”

“Gotta rest the old vocal cords,” Kuroo chuckled. “And the eardrums too.” Yamaguchi smiled kindly at him.

“You know, you and Tsukki aren’t much different.”

“How so?”

“I can tell you’re not being completely honest with what you’re saying,” he said. Kuroo felt his eyes widen and the tears build up in the back of his throat. Yamaguchi held out his arms. “Do you… want a hug?”

“Yes please,” Kuroo choked out before stepping into Yamaguchi’s arms.

“There, there,” Yamaguchi said softly, patting his hair. Kuroo wondered if he was crushing Yamaguchi’s lanky frame but at the same time, hugging him felt really nice. He could tell why Tsukishima said that Yamaguchi was basically the one holding their entire household together.

“Thanks, Yamaguchi,” Kuroo sniffed and wiped a bit at his eyes.

“So, Bokuto likes Akaashi, huh?”

“How did you know?” Kuroo pulled back, looking at Yamaguchi incredulously.

“I’ve read enough Jane Austen novels to detect the lovelorn glances and sighs of longing,” he chuckled.

“That bad, huh?” Kuroo smiled sheepishly.

“Yeah…” Yamaguchi nodded.

“Well, it is what it is,” Kuroo sighed.

“So, do you still want to wait around here?”

“I think I’m ready to go back in, actually. I feel a bit better now.”

“It’s still your birthday,” Yamaguchi patted him on the back as they made their way back to the room. “And if you want Tsukki to sing with you again, I could bribe him for you.” Kuroo smiled crookedly at him.

“I’d like that.”

“He likes singing ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ by One Direction,” Yamaguchi added.

“No way. Really?” Kuroo asked.

“Yeah. But just the first line again and again.”

“So, he just sings ‘You’re insecure’ again and again?” Kuroo was surprised for two seconds before shrugging and accepting it as Something Tsukki Would Do. “Huh, weird guy,” he said.

“Tell me about it.”

…

Everyone in the apartment knew that the One Thing they shouldn’t do was wake Tsukishima up on a Sunday morning. Not even Kageyama and his complete lack of fear would dare to do such a thing. Which was why when Tsukishima was woken up on a Sunday morning, he knew someone was going to be straight-up murdered. He sat up slowly in bed, ready to shoot Hinata or Kageyama his Death Glare that would send them running for the hills only to find Yamaguchi standing by his bed with a spray bottle full of what Tsukishima hoped was water. What particularly surprised him was the fact that Yamaguchi looked completely aware of what he had done.

“Tsukki, wake up.”

“It’s a fucking _Sunday_ ,” Tsukishima groaned.

“You need to go to Kuroo’s house,” Yamaguchi said. Now that woke Tsukishima up.

“Why? We just saw him last night.”

“Because he’s feeling bummed. I think he needs a friend,” Yamaguchi sighed, sitting down on his bed, further preventing Tsukishima from resuming his sleep.

“So? He has Bokuto.”

“Bokuto is part of the reason why he’s bummed,” Yamaguchi looked at him expectantly, assuming that Tsukishima could easily tell what he was talking about, but he was groggy, pissed, and not observant enough. Yamaguchi sighed. “Okay, don’t tell anyone else, it’s probably just Kuroo, me, and Kenma who know but, Kuroo’s been in love with Bokuto for a while.”

“Oh,” was all Tsukishima mustered. He was definitely surprised, and kicking himself for not noticing earlier. But at the same time, he felt kind of down about it for reasons he couldn’t quite put a finger on. “And, Bokuto likes Akaashi, right?”

“Glad you were able to guess that much,” Yamaguchi rolled his eyes.

“And that’s why he left the room for a while.”

“Yes. He asked me for a hug, Tsukki!”

“… Sounds rough,” Tsukishima muttered, completely focused on not wondering it was like to hug Kuroo in a not-so friendly way. “What this have to do with me?”

“If you could visit him, maybe you could cheer him up,” Yamaguchi explained, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“I mean, we’re friends but we’re not that close. He has Kenma already and they’ve been friends practically since they were born,” Tsukishima protested.

“Even Kenma agrees that maybe you should be the one to talk to him.”

“But, why?”

“He says Kuroo listens to you,” Yamaguchi said. “Haven’t you noticed there’s a different side to him when he’s around you? Kuroo complies with everything Bokuto says out of love and he’s protective of Kenma but he’ll dodge around what he says. But he genuinely listens to you. And it might be because you’re the first person he thinks of when it comes to working on that podcast he loves so much.”

Tsukishima fell silent. As much as he liked to believe that what Yamaguchi said was true, he always reserved space for doubt. Kuroo was definitely someone that Tsukishima wanted to get close to, he felt himself pulling back a bit just because he was scared about what would happen if they did in fact get closer. And yet, in spite of that, he found himself asking, “So, what do I do then?”

“You’re the best Tsukki!” Yamaguchi grinned, hugging him. “Kenma said he’ll text you the instructions to his house. You can borrow my bad shark movies hard drive too.”

“Ah yes, nothing brings people together like bad shark movies,” Tsukishima yawned. He didn’t move from his spot on the bed before finally deciding to dress up. Kenma texted him just as he left with instructions on how to get to Kuroo’s house and to ‘say to Kuroo’s moms for him.’ After a one-hour bus ride and a short walk, Tsukishima found himself in front of a two-story house with a garden in front. ‘Well, it’s now or never,’ he told himself as he sucked in a deep breath and rang the doorbell.

When Tsukishima received Kenma’s text, he originally wondered whether the ‘moms’ was a typo, only to be corrected when the door to Kuroo’s house opened, revealing more than one mom. The one on the left, with messy black hair and sharp features, wearing flannel and jeans, looked like a female version of Kuroo while the one on the right had wavy brown hair and blue eyes and wore a sweater and a long skirt. Tsukishima tried not to let the surprise show on his face so as not to make himself appear as That Guy Who Doesn’t Know Lesbians Exist. ‘Now Kuroo’s story about being allowed to wear stilettos as a child makes sense,’ he thought.

“Um, hello. Is Ku—I mean Tetsurou there? I’m a friend of his,” he spoke.

“You sure don’t look like Kenma,” the female-Kuroo looking mom said.

“I’m pretty sure he has friends other than Kenma, dear,” her wife smiled. “Tetsu said that he made a bunch of other friends who helped out at the diner too.”

“I’m one of them, actually,” Tsukishima said. “Uh, I’m Tsukishima. Tsukishima Kei.”

“Nice to meet you Tsukishima-san,” the non-female Kuroo mom greeted. “Come in, come in,” she ushered.

“Thank you,” Tsukishima muttered.

“Make yourself at home. I’m Akane by the way, so you don’t have to call any of us here Kuroo-san.” the female-Kuroo mom yelled before smiling at Tsukishima. “Anyway, I’ll be off for work now,” she said, pecking her wife on the cheek before leaving.

“Take care, dear,” she waved as Akane left. “It’s so nice for you to come over, Tsukishima-san. Akane and I were surprised when Tetsu came over last night but he was clearly upset over something. Oh, I’m Shizuka by the way. No need to call me Auntie or Kuroo-san or anything.” Tsukishima nodded, leaving his shoes on the rack by the door before following Shizuka into the kitchen. Standing by the counter, still in his pajamas and about to shove a really thick sandwich in his mouth, was Kuroo himself. At the sight of Tsukishima, Kuroo bit down slowly on his sandwich, still making eye contact, before biting off a chunk and chewing slowly.

“Um, hi,” Tsukishima said, breaking the silence.

“Hello,” Kuroo answered, his mouth still full of sandwich.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full Tetsu,” Shizuka said and got started on washing the dishes. “And shouldn’t you have changed out of your pajamas if you knew Tsukishima-san was coming?”

“It’s just Tsukki, mom,” Kuroo said, taking another bite of his sandwich. Tsukishima couldn’t tell if he was angry that he had popped into his house unannounced. ‘I should have stayed in bed,’ he thought. Just then, Kuroo, took his plate and headed out the kitchen. “Come on, Tsukki. Let’s hang out in my room.”

“Sure,” Tsukishima nodded, following behind.

“I’ll bring up snacks in a bit!” Shizuka called after them. Tsukishima couldn’t help but look around the house as he followed Kuroo up the stairs. There were family pictures everywhere, from coffee tables to hanging along the wall near the stairs. What caught his attention most was seeing all the younger versions of Kuroo. Apparently, he was born with his bedhead hair and a wide smile that almost reaches his ears. He also had very good Halloween costumes, including a Catwoman one where he was wearing stilettos.

“Here we are,” Kuroo said, nudging the door to his room open with his foot. As expected, Tsukishima found several shelves full of DVD’s and old college textbooks as well as iconic horror movie posters on his walls and a television. The plush shark that Tsukishima gifted him yesterday was perched on top of his pillows. “So,” Kuroo sat on his bed, placing his plate on his lap. “I understand that you are absolutely brimming with curiosity about my childhood and lesbian moms, just like my friends when they first met them, so I shall be entertaining your questions for two minutes starting… now.”

“Okay, so… is it like a constant cycle of ‘go ask your mother?’” Tsukishima asked.

“Good question,” Kuroo grinned. “And yes. It is.”

“Do you call them both ‘mom?’”

“Yup. But I vary how I say it. Usually when I say ‘Moooooom’ I’m referring to Akane and ‘Mom’ for Shizuka.”

“What was it like encountering other kids raised by straight parents?”

“Well, they teased me by saying that because I didn’t have a dad, one of my mom’s was probably an alien but I thought it was cool so I went with it. Also, none of them had Halloween costumes nearly as good as mine.”

“I can see that,” Tsukishima nodded, remembering all the pictures outside.

“It’s actually been a pretty fun childhood, now that I look back on it,” Kuroo grinned. “At one point, Mom, the one downstairs, thought I was searching for a male, father figure while growing up so they exposed me to Bob Ross painting videos, since he was the most wholesome man they could think about.”

“No way,” Tsukishima chuckled.

“But, yeah. That’s pretty much it,” Kuroo nodded. “So, onto my question: what brings you here?”

Tsukishima sat on the chair near Kuroo’s desk. “Yamaguchi, who had been talking with Kenma, said you were bummed about something so he sent me here to cheer you up.”

“Hmm, he’s a nice friend,” Kuroo smiled. “Did he tell you why I was bummed though?”

“…Yeah,” Tsukishima nodded. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

“Not your fault,” Kuroo shrugged, finishing the rest of his sandwich in a few big bites and dusting the crumbs from his fingers. “It was bound to happen eventually. I’m still glad Bokuto sees me as a friend and I mean, Akaashi’s way prettier, smarter, and better than me.

“I know,” Tsukishima nodded. Kuroo threw a pillow at him.

“You’re supposed to cheer me up!” he mock-pouted. Tsukishima laughed and blocked the pillow.

“Akaashi probably doesn’t know the lyrics to Sugar We’re Going Down Swingin’,” he said. “And he doesn’t know how to cram recording a podcast episode in one hour.”

“That’s more like it,” Kuroo grinned and stretched on his bed. “What else ya got? You couldn’t have come all the way here just to say that.” Without him even saying it, Tsukishima took it as a sign that he was more than welcome to hang out in Kuroo’s room.

“I have Yamaguchi’s hard drive of bad shark movies,” Tsukishima said.

“In what world is that going to cheer me up?” Kuroo scoffed. But Tsukishima could clearly see the smile he was trying to suppress.

“Wanna binge-watch all six Sharknado movies?”

“Let’s do it.”

Binge-watching bad shark movies had been Tsukishima and Yamaguchi’s Thing ever since they were in high school during a sleepover when Akiteru pranked Tsukishima by switching out the ‘Jaws’ CD with Sharknado and instead of switching the TV off, they had actually persisted watching it. Bad shark movies had the perfect combination of terrible CGI, exaggerated acting, and cringe-y plots with all the gore equivalent to five slasher movies. It was a way to de-stress and ever since it became their Thing, Tsukishima was reluctant to share it with anyone else, that is until he invited Hinata and Kageyama to his birthday Sharknado marathon. And, now in Kuroo’s bedroom with a bowl of buttered popcorn that Shizuka had brought up shared between them.

After withholding his and Yamaguchi’s Thing for so long, Tsukishima had forgotten that the best part about watching bad shark movies was seeing someone new to them react. “Wait! What the fuck! Do you see that!” Kuroo exclaimed, pointing at the edge of the screen. “The streets aren’t even flooded in this shot!” The scene changed again to show the main characters attempting to rescue kids from a school bus that was sinking in a flood. “And now the flooded streets are back!”

“That’s Sharknado for you,” Tsukishima grinned, tossing popcorn into his mouth. He was enjoying the livid expression on Kuroo’s face.

“That scene was taken from a shark documentary!” he yelled again. “It’s so obvious! The floodwater doesn’t even have that same color! And they just used that same clip again!” Kuroo gripped his hair with both hands. “Tsukki, why are you making me watch this? I was a Film Theory major! I run a podcast for a living!”

“It’s nice to be exposed to various forms of horror movies, especially those with terrible CGI,” Tsukishima responded calmly. Kuroo had seemingly gone through the five stages of grief while watching Sharknado. From denial, “No way is this an actual movie”, to anger, “This is not fucking scientifically possible”, to bargaining, “If I stop complaining I hope the movie will stop showing something for me to complain about”, to depression, “They just… bombed… a tornado… and the dude there just stood there… with a chainsaw… and sawed an entire great white shark in half…”, to acceptance, “There’s a second movie, right? Put that on!”.

“Just to let you know, it starts in an airplane,” Tsukishima grinned as he clicked on the second movie.

“No way,” Kuroo exclaimed. “Let me guess, a Sharknado happens while they’re in a plane.”

“Right you are.”

“Awesome.”

After watching four of the six movies, they were about ready to watch the fifth when Akane came in to tell them that it was already dinnertime and that Tsukishima was more than welcome to stay over. Under normal circumstances, he would refuse. But Akane and Shizuka had bought pizza and treated Tsukishima like a long-time friend, sharing embarrassing stories of their son that Kuroo protested against. Akane and Kuroo had the same weird laugh and Tsukishima found he and Shizuka shared the same sense of dry, salty humor. Under normal circumstances, Tsukishima wouldn’t even consider sleeping over. But it was getting pretty late and Akane would hear nothing of it and ordered Kuroo to lend him some clothes and unroll a futon next to his bed. Surprisingly, showering in another person’s house in a bathroom that had many different kinds of hair products, didn’t feel too awkward and Tsukishima left the shower with his hair smelling like grapefruit and wearing Kuroo’s high school sweater that was slightly too big. Kuroo, who was freshly showered as well, was waiting for him in his room. Under normal circumstances, Tsukishima wouldn’t feel comfortable with any of these things. But these weren’t normal circumstances because he really liked seeing all the pictures of little Kuroo and his moms around the house, sharing a joke with Shizuka, teasing Kuroo with Akane, eating pizza on nothing but napkins and the pizza box, and smelling like grapefruit. He happened to like how Kuroo’s jacket felt on him, running his fingers through the spines of the CD cases in his room, watching Sharknado 5: Global Swarming with Kuroo, and seeing how Kuroo’s hair looked like damp.

After two more Sharknado movies and a whole hour of arguing over which movie was the best in the franchise, they finally decided to switch off the lights and go to bed. On the futon, Kuroo slept on his stomach with two pillows pressed up against either side of his head, which partially explains why his hair is like that. Tsukishima lay on his back, staring at the ‘Jaws’ poster on the wall, finding himself unable to fall asleep as he remembered what it was like to just be ‘Screams On-Screen’s’ regular listener, to finding out who Cat’s Pajamas was in a convenience store on a Friday night, to helping out at Bird’s Nest diner with a whole new group of friends thanks to that fated meeting, and finding himself here and now, very much in love with Kuroo Tetsurou. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i saw a tumblr fanart and headcanons (i forgot which user it was sksksk) about kuroo with lesbian moms and i just needed to make it happen in this fic. will this be the last we see of akane and shizuka? hMMmmM we shall see  
> also this was the chapter that i've been waiting so long to write and now that i got to write it i've been !!!! i really hope it turned out well!! something about domestic yamayachi and a kurotsukki sleepover just gets the gears in my head turning. also i just love the idea of yamaguchi and kuroo being friends (especially since they're both scorpios) and they would 100% talk about tsukki


	8. calmer waters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by: Nike (Just Do It)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: haha, this chapter will be done soon it's just gonna be 7k words  
> the chapter: is 11k  
> me: *surprised pikachu face*
> 
> but then again, a lot of things happen in this chapter

“And don’t forget this bag of candy for Natsu! Also don’t forget to tell her to share it with our cousins. And don’t forget the sweater for Dad. And don’t—”

“I know, I know. The peaches that your Mom asked you to buy,” Yamaguchi nodded, reassuring a very agitated Hinata. Most of Yamaguchi’s luggage was full of things that Hinata had asked to bring home to his family. Beside him, Yachi was going through the things Kageyama asked to bring home. They were a few gifts though for his grandfather and sister, not nearly as much as Hinata. Tsukishima carried the fewest things among the three of them who were going home to Miyagi and was tapping his foot impatiently.

“Guys, the bus is about to leave.”

“Okay, okay! I’m good now,” Hinata backed away from Yamaguchi’s luggage.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure we get these to your families,” Yamaguchi smiled.

“Thanks,” Hinata gave a wobbly smile. Yamaguchi felt his heart ache for him and Kageyama. It was their first time being away for Christmas because they had volleyball practice during the break. Kageyama said it was about time their coach took practice seriously but it sucked that they had to take over their Christmas break.

“See you guys next year! Let’s video call together, okay?” Yachi waved as they boarded the bus. Tsukishima, having made an agreement with Yamaguchi the previous night, quickly took a seat next to a stranger and promptly pulled his sleeping mask on, leaving Yamaguchi and Yachi to sit next to each other. ‘Now that I think of it, Tsukki would probably do it already without me asking,’ he thought, letting Yachi slide in first to get the window seat.

“Ahh, I’m so happy we’re finally going home,” Yachi smiled, tugging her pink neck pillow around her. She looked much better now compared to last week during finals when Yamaguchi spotted her muttering incoherently while clutching three cans of vending machine coffee. The only reason why he saw her like that was because he was also about to buy a shit ton of vending machine coffee that day.

“Will you be doing anything with your family on Christmas?” Yamaguchi asked.

“My mom, stepdad, and I are going over to visit my grandparent’s nearby,” Yachi answered. “My grandmother and I like to bake sweets. How about you, Yamaguchi-kun?”

“It’s not much of a big deal for us so we pretty much order food and watch television,” he chuckled. “I do hope it snows though.”

“Me too!” Yachi chirped. The two of them chatted for a while before drifting off to sleep for a good hour before reaching a bus stopover. Yamaguchi had woken up first to find Yachi leaning on his shoulder before smiling to himself and pretending to fall asleep until she had woken up. They had to work together to wake Tsukishima up though to leave the bus and get some early dinner. Tsukishima was quiet and groggy around them the entire time they were lining up at their favorite ramen restaurant until he discovered that he and Yachi like the same extra spicy seafood ramen and ended up sharing a bowl. They made their way back to the bus with convenience store ice cream cones in hand, this time staying awake for the rest of the trip and passing around Yamaguchi’s phone to play a game. Finally, the sights around them became more familiar and Yamaguchi found himself home, back in Miyagi.

Akiteru, Tsukishima’s older brother, was there waiting for them at the bus stop, and to envelope Tsukishima in a hug. “Merry Christmas, little brother!” he grinned, mussing up Tsukishima’s hair.

“There’s two of them…” Yachi said, watching them.

“N-Nii-chan, I told you we could get home by ourselves,” Tsukishima scowled, trying to untangle himself from Akiteru’s grasp.

“I know! That’s why I asked Yamaguchi,” he grinned, flashing a thumbs-up at Yamaguchi who eagerly returned it. “And it seems like I was right to come,” he added, eyes landing on Yachi. “Hello there! You must be a friend.”

“Yachi Hitoka,” she smiled, introducing herself.

“Thanks for putting up with my brother, Yachi,” Akiteru mussed Tsukishima’s hair one last time before leading them to his car that was parked a few ways off. Tsukishima stayed in the front passenger’s seat, clutching his backpack to his chest, while Yamaguchi and Yachi stayed in the back with all of Hinata’s Christmas presents. While chatting with Akiteru, Yamaguchi realized that he must have missed him too. He grew up an only child and hanging out with Tsukishima and Akiteru felt like being around older brothers. ‘If I had an older brother, he’d give me better advice on how to talk to girls,’ Yamaguchi thought, glancing over at Yachi who was staring out the window with a smile on her face, no doubt excited to get home.

After dropping off Hinata and Kageyama’s presents to their families, they drove off to Yachi’s place which was at the farther side of Miyagi. Yamaguchi offered to help bring her things up to her apartment and Akiteru, who immediately picked up on his plan flashed him a thumbs-up from inside the car.

“Thanks again for helping me,” Yachi smiled once they reached her floor. “I’m kind of getting used to having someone help me bring things up to my apartment. N-not that you should do it all the time! I mean, only if you want to…” she stammered.

“Relax, you don’t even have to ask,” Yamaguchi chuckled as they reached her door. “Oh, by the way,” he shifted on his feet, feeling the butterflies rise up in his stomach. “I got you an early Christmas present,” he said, pulling a gift-wrapped package from his bag. He had spent almost an hour last night trying to gift-wrap it as neatly as he could and even wrapped it in his shirt before putting it in his bag so it wouldn’t get squished.

“Yamaguchi-kun!” Yachi gasped. “Thank you!”

“Don’t mention it,” Yamaguchi grinned, feeling himself blush.

“I haven’t gotten you a Christmas gift yet though…”

“It’s alright. You don’t have to—”

“Would you be free for lunch on Thursday?” she interrupted. There was a determined look in her eyes that Yamaguchi just couldn’t say no to. “It’s a day after Christmas which is when I get back after visiting my grandparent’s. It’s a bit late for a Christmas gift but will you… consider it?”

“I’ll be there,” Yamaguchi nodded.

“Great,” Yachi smiled, looking relieved. “So, see you then.

“Where do I meet you?”

“Ah, how about that bookstore café? The one we passed by earlier?”

“Perfect! See you,” Yamaguchi smiled as she opened the door to her apartment. “Merry Christmas, Yachi.”

“Merry Christmas, Yamaguchi,” she waved. While walking back to the car, Yamaguchi couldn’t help but think about the gift he chose to give Yachi. It was a book, like always, but one that Yamaguchi combed the bookstores for. But what was most important was the note Yamaguchi left on the upper corner of the front page. If Yachi opened her gift on Christmas, Yamaguchi would know her answer the day after that.

…

Christmas in Kenma’s family wasn’t much of a big deal, aside from the fact that it was basically vacation time and his parents were off work, which was pretty rare. Because of that, Kenma would hang out over at Kuroo’s house, which was way more fun because Shizuka made the best-tasting apple pie and Akane was so much better than Kuroo at Mario Kart. Also, being in Kuroo’s room felt like some weird, sanctuary of sorts. Usually among best friends, all the sleepovers and weird obsessions ended at some point but so far, his and Kuroo’s hadn’t. No matter what, Kenma would always make time to play video games and watch movies in Kuroo’s room.

“Are you sure you want to cut your hair?” Kuroo asked, looking uncertainly from the scissors in his hands to Kenma’s hair which had been brushed out and ready to be chopped off. “It looks pretty cool like that. I mean, you can do so many fun things with it!”

“I think it’s time for a change,” Kenma sighed, explaining himself for the hundredth time.

“I know! Let’s ask another opinion! Why not Hinata?”

“Hm.”

“Come on.”

“Fine,” Kenma sighed again, though not lamenting the chance to text Hinata again. Not like he needed a legitimate reason to because he and Hinata had been texting each other back-and-forth pretty much constantly ever since Kenma gave his number about any topic under the sun with Hinata being the proverbial ‘sun’ in this case.

[to: shoyo]

(1:15 pm) _hey, shoyo_

[from: shoyo]

(1:15 pm) _KENMAAAAA_

(1:15 pm) _WHAT’S UP?_

[to: shoyo]

(1:15 pm) _i’m thinking about cutting my hair_

[from: shoyo]

(1:16 pm) _WHAT NO_

(1:16 pm) _NO DON’T DO IT_

(1:16 pm) _UR HAIR LOOKS SO COOL WHY WOULD U CUT IT?_

[to: shoyo]

(1:16 pm) _i guess not then_

“He said no, didn’t he?” Kuroo said.

“I guess not,” Kenma shook his head, looking at himself in the mirror and wondering what part of it was what Hinata referred to as ‘cool.’ He shrugged, chalking it up to one of Hinata’s weird reasonings and tied part of his hair up into a bun. “Wow, when I said you shouldn’t do it you were like ‘no Kuroo, chop my hair off’ but when _Shoyo_ says no you’re like ‘okay, I guess not Kuroo’. Am I getting replaced here?” he whined.

“No one can replace you Kuroo,” Kenma rolled his eyes and checked his phone again that was buzzing with more messages from Hinata.

[from: shoyo]

(1:18 pm) _WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR CHRISTMAS?_

(1:18 pm) _IT’S SO BORING HERE_

(1:18 pm) _WANNA CATCH A MOVIE OR SOMETHING?_

[to: shoyo]

(1:18 pm) _aren’t you in miyagi_

[from: shoyo]

(1:19 pm) _i wish i was :’(_

(1:19 pm) _coach told us to stay behind to work on volleyball practice during christmas break_

(1:19 pm) _i miss home_

(1:19 pm) _but i’m stuck in this apartment with stupid kageyama and even naruto shippuden: ultimate ninja storm 3 isn’t fun anymore_

Kenma wasn’t much of a family person but he could by the alarming usage of non-all caps letters and the ‘even naruto shippuden: ultimate ninja storm 3 isn’t fun anymore’ line that Hinata was a family person and being stuck here basically sucked. And Kenma, according to Kuroo, was a much more caring friend than he usually thought himself to be. So, he turned to his friend, who was rifling through his stack of Christmas movie CD’s, and asked “Do you think your moms would be cool adopting Hinata and Kageyama today?”

Akane and Shizuka were more than okay with it, especially since they wanted to try playing a Christmas-themed Dungeons and Dragons campaign that one of their fellow, geeky lesbian friends sent them and it was way more fun with six people. Kuroo couldn’t stand the thought of Hinata and Kageyama left by themselves during the holidays, saying that they might pull a ‘The Shining’ moment with Kageyama chasing Hinata with an axe, to which Kenma argued couldn’t happen because they weren’t trapped in the middle of nowhere. After getting Hinata’s very enthusiastic reply about being adopted by two lesbian moms for the holidays, Kuroo and Kenma boarded the pick-up truck to fetch their friends.

“Thanks so much for having us!” Hinata grinned, practically bouncing in the backseat.

“Thanks seconded,” Kageyama said. “I’ve been dealing with this dumbass for way too long, I almost murdered him for drinking the last of the milk.” Kuroo shot Kenma an ‘I told you so’ glance at the sound of the word ‘murdered’ which Kenma rolled his eyes at.

“Ah, you two must be Hinata and Kageyama,” Akane greeted as soon as they returned to the house.

“Thanks for having us,” they both bowed. Akane waved them inside.

“It’s a good thing Kenma told us about you guys,” she said, heading to the kitchen. The smell of apple pie baking in the oven filled the space.

“Yeah, I didn’t know you weren’t going back to Miyagi,” Kenma said, looking at Hinata.

“I kinda got preoccupied with sending stuff home,” he said. “But Yamaguchi was very reliable.” Beside him, Kageyama was also sniffing the air curiously while Kuroo attempted to steal a glance at the pie in the oven only for Shizuka to scold him.

“Anyway, you boys came just in time,” she smiled just as the oven timer rang.

“A-pple pie! A-pple pie!” Kuroo and Akane chanted.

“Shizuka-san makes very good apple pie,” Kenma explained to the two guests.

“And now we’ve got two more players for Christmas D&D!” Akane cheered.

“Mom, you can’t just force Hinata and Kageyama into Christmas D&D,” Kuroo said. To their surprise, Kageyama turned to Akane with a gleam in his eyes.

“Is this the campaign with the evil Santa Claus who’s actually a wizard that uses a magic amulet to control the ancient ice-breathing dragon?” he asked, saying it all quickly without taking a breath.

“It is!” Akane nodded.

“I would very much like to join.”

“Shizuka! Let’s adopt him!”

“Your son is standing right here!” Kuroo exclaimed. Kenma looked at Hinata.

“Want to get some apple pie?”

“Sure, yeah,” he nodded.

After thirty minutes of explaining D&D to Hinata and three hours of playing D&D, which Akane and Shizuka greatly enjoyed with Kageyama who was very enthusiastic about defeating the wizard and taking the amulet for himself, which Kuroo fought him against stating that the dragon deserves rights and should be freed from the curse, they finally decided to prepare dinner. Hinata, who had gained a lot of Kitchen Skills from working with Bokuto, was a huge help to Shizuka. While that was happening, Kenma and Kuroo set up the room for their Christmas movie marathon.

“Hey, class registrations are out,” Kageyama announced while checking his phone.

“Class registrations, huh,” Kenma sighed, thinking about the ordeal of signing up for classes, consulting his advisers, and registering all over again next semester.

“Ha, I certainly don’t miss that,” Kuroo snickered, piling blankets on one corner of his bed. Kenma flopped down on said bed, ruining the pile of blankets. He always felt like this whenever a semester ended and another would start. After all, it’s not like he enthusiastically chose to major in Anthropology or that he wanted to do whatever it is Anthropologists do in the future. It was more of a ‘this major seems okay’ but as the years went by, the more ‘not so okay’ Kenma was with his major. He even deliberately took less units per semester to delay himself from having to start his thesis.

“Okay, I know that look on your face,” Kuroo said, sitting down on the floor with his back leaning against the bed. “Now, spill.”

“I don’t like my major. I don’t like college,” Kenma muttered.

“Then drop out,” Kageyama said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world, which to him, probably was.

“I can’t just drop out of college, my parents would kill me,” Kenma said exasperatedly.

“So? Start that gaming Youtube channel that you always wanted to do,” Kuroo said. Kenma sighed again at how easy dropping out of college Kuroo and Kageyama made it seem. He definitely asked the wrong people for advice.

“Never mind.”

“No, no seriously,” Kuroo said, tugging on Kenma’s jacket sleeve. “Isn’t that what you always wanted to do? You’re always bemoaning the fact that Youtubers don’t bother to bring attention to smaller, independently-developed games and how that’s ruining the industry.”

“Not everyone in the Youtube gaming community actually makes it,” Kenma scowled. “I’ll just be one face among so many others.”

“But focusing on indie games would make you unique,” Kageyama added. “And not to mention, you’d have a pretty tight network if you helped indie game developers with getting their stuff out.” Just then, Hinata walked into the room.

“Hey guys, dinner’s ready!” he grinned.

“Hinata!” Kuroo exclaimed. “Help us convince Kenma that it’s okay for him to drop out of college and start a gaming Youtube channel.”

“Whoa! You should totally do that Kenma! You’d do great!” he exclaimed. ‘These people are way too optimistic. Where’s Tsukishima and Akaashi when you need them?’ Kenma thought.

“Fine, think about it this way. Wouldn’t it be more troublesome for you to be forced to do what you don’t want to do, rather than doing what you want to do and facing the consequences of it for a little while?” Kuroo asked. “And your life isn’t over whether or not you choose to drop out of college, or even change your major. I graduated and now I’m working at a diner and also appearing on TV.”

“And Bokuto-san manages that diner without having even gone to college,” Kageyama added.

“And we’re both idiots, Kenma,” Kuroo said. “Think of what you, a non-idiot, could do.”

“Weirdly enough, that got my hopes up,” Kenma raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know, I’ll think about it.”

“Alright!” Hinata grinned. “I’ll be your first follower when you start that Youtube channel.”

“Thanks, Shoyo,” Kenma smiled.

“Why does he get a thank you?” Kuroo pouted. Kenma opened his mouth for his standard, sarcastic response when Akane called them down for dinner. The second part of the Kuroo family Christmas tradition, after Dungeons and Dragons, was the American Christmas movie marathon which involved a long and arduous voting process that, thanks to Hinata and Kageyama being around, was even longer and more arduous.

“Home Alone! Home Alone!” Kuroo and Hinata chanted in unison, holding up the DVD.

“We watch Home Alone first every Christmas!” Akane argued. “What we should watch is Die Hard.”

“It’s not a Christmas movie!” Kuroo argued.

“It is a Christmas movie!” Kageyama and Akane yelled in unison.

“How about a nice one, like Polar Express?” Shizuka offered. “Or Barbie and the Nutcracker?”

“Not Barbie and the Nutcracker!” Kuroo groaned.

“But you loved Barbie and the Nutcracker.”

“Aww, Barbie and the Nutcracker,” Hinata gushed.

“Sh-shut up,” Kuroo flushed.

“Why? Barbie and the Nutcracker was pretty cool. My sister and I watched it all the time,” Kageyama added.

“But Home Alone is still the superior Christmas movie,” Hinata said.

“How about the recorded episodes of Tokyo’s Best Diner?” Shizuka suggested.

“Nah,” Akane waved it off.

“Your son is there!” Kuroo exclaimed.

“I hear from you every day,” she shrugged.

“Mom, she’s being mean again,” Kuroo hugged Shizuka.

“But what do you think, arbiter?” Akane asked, turning to Kenma who was sitting on the couch, presiding over the argument.

“I think we should watch A Christmas Carol,” he said. “It’s intense, has better quality CGI, and it’s about the true spirit of Christmas: guilt-tripping the rich into questioning their materialism, therefore causing them to donate to the poor.”

“He does have a point,” Akane murmured.

“We can watch Home Alone and Die Hard after!” Hinata suggested.

“I’m fine with that too,” Shizuka smiled and nodded. “Thank goodness Kenma is always here during the holidays.” Kenma smiled to himself as he settled down in the couch with more apple pie on a plate in his lap as A Christmas Carol started playing. He could never get tired of being in this house. However, even Shizuka’s apple pie, a movie about guilt-tripping a capitalist, and the feeling of Hinata braiding his hair couldn’t distract Kenma from his conversation with his friends from earlier. His passion had always been playing games and discovering new ones that were interesting. He didn’t really care about flashy, well-made graphics as long as the story and gameplay were interesting. Some of his favorite games were made by indie developers and it always broke his heart to see a game discontinued just because there wasn’t enough funding and enough people to play.

‘Kuroo could be right. I could have a market for this,’ he thought, watching Akane and Shizuka cheer as Ebenezer Scrooge was being chased by the Ghost of Christmas Future’s carriage. And if his parents got mad at him, Kenma could just deal with it. Thinking deeply, Kenma excused himself from the living room and secluded himself inside Kuroo’s bedroom. ‘And if it doesn’t work out..? I’d rather not think about it. Is there anything else I could even do?’ he started pacing. ‘Well, I’m good with animals so I guess I could work at a shelter—’

“Ah, Kenma!”

His thoughts, and pacing, were interrupted when Hinata entered the room. “Shoyo.”

“Ah, sorry I was just looking for somewhere to call my family,” Hinata smiled sheepishly. “I’ll just let myself out.”

“It’s alright, come in,” Kenma shook his head. “I can let myself out if you want.”

“No, actually…” Hinata looked down sheepishly. “I was wondering if you could… join me? I feel like I’ll just start straight-up crying when I see my little sister and then she’s going to tease me about it…”

“You, want me to join you?” Kenma repeated. He had never really heard a request like that. But at the same time, he couldn’t find himself saying no to it. Especially since it was coming from Hinata. “Sure.”

“Thank you so much Kenma! You’re the best!” he instantly brightened, hopping on the bed and patting the spot next to him for Kenma to sit down. “Okay, so my family kind of likes to say really embarrassing things around my friends so if you hear something weird, just assume it’s not true.” Kenma nodded, knowing he was going to be concentrating more on not being awkward than on whatever stories Hinata’s family was going to share. Hinata pressed the ‘call’ button and not too long after, the face of a girl who looked very much like him filled the screen.

“Natsu! Merry Christmas!” Hinata grinned, waving at the screen.

“Nii-chan!” Natsu smiled. She looked to be around high school in terms of age range. Her hair, which was the same shade as Hinata’s and stuck out all over the place, was held back by clips. “You’re not crying because you miss us, aren’t you?”

“N-no! Definitely not!” Hinata said, sounding as if he was definitely going to cry. Kenma nudged him slightly to remind him why he was there. “Oh, right! This is my friend Kenma by the way.”

“Ohhh, the one who play Pokemon Go too?” Natsu said. “Hi there, Kenma!”

“Hello,” Kenma nodded politely, feeling himself blush a bit hearing that Hinata talked about him with his sister.

“You guys are like the only people left on Earth who still play Pokemon Go, you know that?” Natsu chuckled.

“That means more Pokemon for us to catch,” Hinata grinned.

“We wanna be the very best, that no one ever was,” Kenma said. To his surprise, Hinata and Natsu quickly caught on and sang in unison.

“To catch them is my very test, to train them is my cause! Pokemon!”

“Aw man, now I miss watching Pokemon,” Natsu said.

“Let’s watch again when I come back!” Hinata grinned. “Kenma can come along too.”

“I’d like that,” Kenma smiled and nodded.

“Great! Oh, mom and dad want to talk to you,” Natsu said, standing up and walking to the living room.

“Alright,” Hinata nodded. Kenma could tell by the wobbly smile on his face that he was bordering on crying. He didn’t know how to cheer up a person who he saw mostly cheerful, but Kenma made an effort and held Hinata’s free hand. He looked at him in surprise and Kenma panicked, thinking he did the wrong thing, when Hinata smiled and squeezed his hand back, not letting go.

“Mom!” he grinned, as a woman’s face appeared on screen. Her hair was a darker shade than her children’s, but she shared the same warm, brown eyes as them. A man who Kenma assumed was Hinata’s dad also showed up on-screen.

“Hey son! How’s Tokyo?” he greeted.

“It’s great! Volleyball practice has been extra tiring though,” Hinata sighed. “Oh, this is my friend Kenma by the way!” Kenma waved politely again. “He, Kageyama, and I are staying over at our friend’s house.”

“That’s good. I hope they’re keeping you well-fed,” his mother said.

“They are! We played Dungeons and Dragons, which is like this really cool board game but you play it with your imagination, and now we’re marathoning Christmas movies even if we had to fight over it at first. Oh, did you guys get the gifts I sent you?”

“Yup, Yamaguchi brought them over the other day,” his mother nodded.

“That’s good,” Hinata smiled, sniffing slightly. “You guys are going to come watch us play in Nationals, right? Our coach said that they’ll be scouting players for the professional teams!”

“Of, course! We wouldn’t dare miss it,” his father said.

“I’ll see you guys there,” Hinata grinned. After a few more minutes of exchanging stories, which Kenma unexpectedly found himself paying attention to instead of being worried about how awkward he was looking on camera. Eventually, Hinata’s parents asked a bit about him, none of the questions were too imposing, until finally they all bid their goodbyes. Hinata looked much more relieved and happier as he stretched out on the bed.

“They seem like they care about you a lot,” Kenma said, lying down on Kuroo’s pillows.

“Yeah, they do,” Hinata smiled. “What about your family? Are they okay with you spending Christmas in Kuroo-san’s house?”

“They don’t really care. We’re… alright I guess as a family though my parents worry about me sometimes,” Kenma muttered.

“Oh yeah? What are they worried about?”

“Mainly, the fact that Kuroo was my only friend all throughout grade school until high school, well pretty much before I met Bokuto-san and you guys. Also, the fact that I don’t take my academics seriously and don’t seem to have much plans in life.”

“Except for becoming a Youtuber.”

“Except that,” Kenma sighed.

“Well, that’s what I thought when people said I was too short to be a spiker on a volleyball team in high school,” Hinata said. “And look where I am now! Well, actually I didn’t get into my top university for volleyball and Kageyama and I are stuck with a lame coach but everything will turn out fine when I get scouted!”

“Not everyone’s like you, Shoyo,” Kenma smiled wryly. Hinata cocked his head, his gaze was intense as he said.

“And not everyone’s like you either, Kenma.” Kenma swallowed and looked away.

“You really think I can do it?”

“Sure, I do!” Hinata nodded. “But you don’t have to completely drop everything if that’s not your thing. You could keep doing your regular classes and start a channel next year.” The burden Kenma felt on his chest felt a bit lighter.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Oh! I should give you my Christmas present?” Hinata sat up with a start.

“You got me a Christmas present?” Kenma looked at him incredulously.

“Yup! What’s your Pokemon Go friend code?” Hinata grinned, tapping at his phone. Kenma recited it from memory. A few minutes later, he got a gift notification. “Open it! Open it!” Hinata grinned.

Kenma opened the game to receive the gift. It wasn’t just a regular gift pack though, but an actual Pokemon. A Ninetales to be exact. Kenma blinked at it in surprise. “Shoyo…”

“When I browsed through your Pokemon collection a while back I noticed you didn’t have the Ninetales that we encountered in a raid. And I wondered if you had exchanged it for candy but then it was a Ninetales and there’s no way you would do that.”

“But… you’re _giving_ it to me,” Kenma said.

“Yeah,” Hinata nodded. “I… thought you’d like it.”

“I do,” Kenma smiled. “But… I didn’t really get you a gift.”

“Being with me during my video call was more than enough,” Hinata waved it off.

“I see. Thank you, Shoyo,” Kenma smiled. For the longest time, he didn’t really happen to find anything special about Christmas except for the usual sleepover at Kuroo’s house. But now, he could safely say, that this was his favorite Christmas yet.

“Guys! You missed the ending of A Christmas Carol. We’re starting Home Alone already,” they heard Kuroo call. Kenma internally sighed at how good his friend was at interrupting a moment.

“Well, want to watch Kevin turn his house into a deathtrap?” Hinata grinned.

“Let’s go,” Kenma smiled, leaving the room with him and returning to the living room where Kuroo and Kageyama had already prepared bowls of popcorn. Akane and Shizuka were gone, probably retiring in their room for the night.

“Okay, so, who do you think would win?” Kuroo said, through a mouthful of popcorn. “Kevin and his deathtrap house? Or the xenomorph alien from ‘Alien’?” Kageyama looked at Kuroo with complete seriousness.

“How much time does Kevin have to prepare?”

“Half a day.”

Kenma and Hinata looked at each other. “Definitely Kevin.” Kuroo mulled it over. 

“Yeah, I agree. Wanna watch Home Alone 2 after?”

“Sure,” Kageyama nodded.

Kenma settled in on one of the couches with Hinata next to him, a bowl of popcorn between them. Once in a while, he’d purposely brush against Hinata’s hand while reaching for popcorn.

….

Yachi loved spending the holidays at her grandparents’ house. For once, her mom was relaxed and distanced from any form of work, thanks to help from Yachi’s stepdad, and could be found lounging in front of the TV with a cup of tea in her hands. Her grandparents’ house was actually in a coastal village and sometimes, they’d stroll along the beach and check out the marketplace selling fresh fish. Her grandfather loved asking about what she was doing in school, even though he did forget about her answers and ask again. But Yachi’s favorite part was baking melon bread with her grandmother. ‘I wonder if Yamaguchi would like this? I’ll remember to pack some tomorrow when I see him,’ she thought.

“You seem pretty lost in thought, Hitoka-chan,” her grandmother spoke up just after putting the bread in the oven. “Anyone specific on your mind.”

Yachi felt her face flush before realizing that there was no point in hiding anything from her grandmother. “Well, there’s this boy I met in school…”

“Is he a nice boy?”

“He’s a very nice boy,” Yachi nodded. “He has these really cute freckles on his face and his bangs are long and kind of block his view, until I lent him my clip to pin them back. His name’s Yamaguchi Tadashi and he’s an English major and apparently, he likes reading plays. And… oh gosh, I’ve said so much…” she realized, feeling her face heat up with embarrassment.

“It sounds like you like him a lot,” her grandmother chuckled, taking a seat at the kitchen table. “So, ever thought of asking him out?”

“I don’t know… it might be too soon?” Yachi thought, absentmindedly pulling at a lock of her hair.

“It’s never too soon. You’re both young, in college, with a whole world of opportunities right in front of you,” her grandmother smiled. “I asked your grandfather out when we were in college too.”

“R-really?” Yachi asked, surprised.

“I even wore red lipstick that day to match my under—"

“That’s okay Grandma I don’t need to know!” Yachi hurriedly interrupted her. “But I do see your point I guess.”

“The holidays are the perfect time to ask someone out. Especially if it’s around New Year’s for that dramatic flair.”

“Well, I am seeing him tomorrow,” Yachi mumbled.

“Why didn’t you say so?” her grandmother said, quickly picking up the ingredients they had just packed away. “We’ll need to make some more melon bread.”

“You’re the best Grandma!” Yachi grinned, quickly getting back to work.

“Time to win yourself a man,” she winked. “Ah, this reminds me of the time I made brownies for your grandfather and brought them over to his house. I even made him eat ice cream off my—”

“Grandma!”

The rest of the day’s festivities passed by with the thought of asking out Yamaguchi in the back of her mind. When everyone finally retired for the night, after being stuffed full with dinner and dessert, Yachi busied herself with packing the extra melon bread in the guest room. She loved making an effort to personally gift-wrap presents with recycled paper, washi tape, stickers, and memo pads that she collected from her various stationery hauls, most of them a result of stress. After placing the melon bread in a white paper bag that she decorated with her favorite gold washi tape with star designs, Yachi was still far from tired. The thought of her possibly asking Yamaguchi out, and the chance that their friendship won’t be the same again worried her, but at the same time she knew that no matter what, Yamaguchi would always be the nice friend that he was to everyone.

Yachi sighed again and opened the sketchbook that she brought along with her. Because of how demanding her coursework was, she didn’t have much time to do some art for leisure. In high school, she was able to produce a few new pieces per week and would often take videos of her process on her Youtube channel. Her followers had been missing her art pieces so Yachi thought to try to create something during the holidays. She picked up a pencil, tapping it on a fresh page as she scratched her brain for something to draw, only to circle back to the very face she was going to see the next day. ‘Well, it’s not like he’s going to see this,’ she thought. ‘And I just need to sketch something, anything, before figuring out what to make a video of.’ With that, she nodded and began to sketch: starting with the shape of Yamaguchi’s face with gently curving lines, to his long hair and bangs still with Yachi’s hairclip pinning them back, to his eyes and sweet smile and freckles. Since it was wintertime and the last time she saw him was when he brought her up after their bus ride to Miyagi, she drew a scarf around his neck and a coat.

She could have stopped there, especially since she was able to flex her finger muscles to draw something new, but Yachi couldn’t just leave the sketch uncolored. So, she ended up unpacking her watercolor paints and brushes, happy that she decided to smuggle them in her bag, and painting her sketch. Yachi worked unexpectedly fast, especially due to her tendency to second-guess her artistic decisions, and when she looked at the finished product, she sighed and put her sketchbook down. ‘I really must like Yamaguchi a lot,’ she thought.

While packing her paints back into her bag, Yamaguchi’s gift to her, still perfectly wrapped because Yachi knew he must have worked hard on the giftwrapping, tumbled out. After being curious about the content for so long, she buried it deep into her backpack to make sure she would open it on Christmas. Excited by the discovery, Yachi picked it up and hopped on her bed before gently peeling back the tape on the corners of the package. Just as she guessed, it was a book: ‘Selected Poems by John Clare.’

“Ah, this was the poet he told me about the other time,” Yachi smiled, happy at the thoughtful gift. She opened the book, eyes instantly falling on the dedication he had written for her on the first page. ‘Dear Yachi, Merry Christmas! I hope you like reading this book. Also, this was a pretty good idea when it was in my head but now that I’m writing it, it feels kinda lame but too late to back out now, I guess. I just wanted to say that Yachi, I’ve liked you for quite a while now.’

‘Yachi, I’ve liked you for quite a while now…’

Yachi’s eyes widened as she read the same line again and again before speeding through the rest of the message. ‘Right at the moment, this is the bravest way I can think of to ask you out. But, if you’ll have me, I could be a lot braver than this. Merry Christmas again, Yachi – Yamaguchi.’

“No way…” Yachi said out loud, lying back in bed, stunned. Yamaguchi liked her back. _Yamaguchi_ liked _her_ back. And Yachi was seeing him tomorrow. A giggle escaped her lips as she hugged the book to her chest. Already, she began to wonder about gift-wrapping another present for Yamaguchi. 

The next day, Yachi could hardly wait to go back home, although she relished the morning with her grandparents. She matched her constellation-shaped hairclips with the new earrings she got for Christmas, and put on her favorite, peach-colored dress and boots. Right after getting home, Yachi packed her gifts and wallet before heading for the café where Yamaguchi was already waiting.

“Yachi-san!” he greeted, seeing her walk out. “Merry Christmas!” Even with the smile on his face, Yachi could tell how nervous he looked, most likely out of waiting for an answer. As much as Yachi wanted to ask him out properly, she couldn’t bear seeing him looking uncomfortable any longer. She couldn’t keep herself from grinning either.

“Yes!” she exclaimed, as soon as she was close enough.

“Y-yes?!” Yamaguchi repeated before realization dawned on his face. “You mean…?”

“I like you too, Yamaguchi-kun!” Yachi laughed.

“You do?” Yamaguchi gaped. “Y-you do!” he laughed, hugging Yachi. She felt herself being lifted and spun around, something that only occurred in her daydreams back then about a Prince Charming, and Yachi instinctively put her arms around his neck.

“I do like you back!” Yachi grinned, unable to keep herself from feeling this joy. When Yamaguchi finally put her down, he craned his neck down towards her so she was still holding onto him.

“Wow. I-I feel so happy!” Yamaguchi giggled. “You like me.”

“You’re the sweetest person I’ve ever met,” Yachi blushed. “Also, I got you gifts too,” she said, handing him the paper bag of melon bread and the envelope with her drawing in it.

“Gosh, thanks. You saying you liked me back was more than enough,” Yamaguchi said, opening the white paper bag. “Wow, melon bread! Did you make this yourself?”

“With my grandmother,” Yachi nodded. “Now open the other one!”

“Okay.” Yachi watched as he gently opened the envelope and slid out the watercolor painting that she made of him last night.

“Do you… like it?” she asked.

“Wow, I look really good here,” Yamaguchi grinned. “It’s amazing, Yachi!”

“You always look good,” Yachi blushed.

“You always look good to me too,” Yamaguchi smiled down at her. “Thank you. This is the best Christmas I’ve ever had so far.”

“Me too,” Yachi nodded. “So, wanna get lunch?”

“Sure thing,” Yamaguchi agreed, taking her hand before they walked into the café. Yachi relished the warmth of her hand in Yamaguchi’s, knowing that holding hands was something they’d be doing for quite a long time.

…

Bokuto loved the holidays. Because he had to run the diner by himself for a while, seeing his family was a bit of a rare occasion especially since they lived more than an hour away. His favorite part about coming home was seeing his three nephews who had the same energy that Bokuto did, which was way different from the energy levels that his two older brothers, Daiki and Hori, had. Actually, Bokuto had a feeling that the holidays were the only time his brothers and their wives could have time to rest and leave their children in his care, which Bokuto didn’t mind at all.

“Koutarou! Koutarou! Do that cool thing with the rice again!” his nephews cheered.

“Again? But it’s almost done?”

“Please! One last time!” the youngest one, Yuuta, whined.

“Alright, alright,” Bokuto grinned, lifting the wok with one strong arm and tossing the rice up in an arc before catching it.

“So cool!” they cheered before their parents called them to sit down.

“They never get tired of you doing that, huh?” Bokuto’s mother chuckled as she took plates from the cupboard.

“And I never get tired of making them happy,” he grinned, switching off the stove.

“You’d make a good father someday, you know?” his mother smiled. “No matter who your partner would be,” she looked at him pointedly. Bokuto felt himself blush. His mother had always caught on to the fact that Bokuto wasn’t exactly straight, just like she foresaw that he would somehow make cooking his career. When Bokuto came home the other day, he found his parents cheering about seeing him on television and exclaiming how proud they were. It only made Bokuto want to win even more, aside from that request Akaashi made from him. Thinking about that made Bokuto wonder about what Akaashi was doing for the holidays. The last time he saw them was when the college kids came over to study late at night in Bird’s Nest. Akaashi was delirious from sleep deprivation and taking coffee orders from everyone to be delivered. Kenma thought that Akaashi had mistakenly ordered six shots of espresso for their latte but it was, in fact, on purpose. ‘You might as well do cocaine,’ Kenma had said, convincing Akaashi to lessen their amount of espresso shots. As much as Bokuto hated seeing Akaashi in distress, he did like the slightly disheveled look on them with their messy hair, jeans and t-shirt, and nothing on their eyes but smudged eyeliner.

Bokuto didn’t really know if Akaashi had got the message weeks ago during that time they went to karaoke for Kuroo’s birthday. But in any case, he was determined to ask out the most beautiful person on Earth before the year ended. He knew other people would say that Bokuto was moving too far ahead for his own good but he was gay and gay people moved in after the first date and planned a wedding after the second one.

“Hey, mom! Can you teach me how to knit?” he asked.

“Knit? How come?” she asked, surprised.

“I wanted to make something for my friend.”

“For Kuroo-san?”

“Another friend.” At that, his mother flashed him a knowing smile.

“Sure thing, Koutarou. If, you can get your nephews to focus on something else.”

“That’s going to be the hard part,” Bokuto sighed, watching his nephews running around the table. As it turns out, all he had to do was bribe them by saying that if they were quiet and watched TV the whole day, Bokuto would take them to the park the next day. ‘Which means I’ll have to work as fast as I can,’ he thought, settling down on the couch beside his mother who had spools of yarn and knitting needles ready. After picking out a nice shade of green, one that reminded Bokuto of Akaashi’s eyes, he got down to work. It was a confusing task having to pay attention to his mother and trying to get his stitches as even as possible. Once or twice, Bokuto found his own legs somehow tangled in the yarn and tripping over them when he tried to stand up. But once he got the hang of it, he found the activity pretty relaxing because of the patterns. It was very different from cooking where you had to pay attention to different things at the same time.

After a few days, a scarf started taking form from Bokuto’s needles. His mother helped and it looked quite roughly-made compared to the one that Akaashi gave him. It took a while, but Bokuto eventually noticed that the mauve scarf didn’t have a clothing tag. To confirm his suspicions, he had basically stalked Akaashi’s Instagram and Youtube channel, to find a knitting tutorial with the same exact scarf they gave Bokuto, only at that time it was just a bunch of thread. Bokuto found himself watching that same video again and again, right before going to sleep. He didn’t really pay much attention to the knitting process but he spent a great deal of time studying Akaashi’s hands as they worked the needles. Eventually, their soft, soothing voice would lull Bokuto to sleep and he’d wake up the next morning with a dead phone battery. What he always ended up thinking about was why would Akaashi just give him a scarf that he knitted so carefully? ‘That… must mean he likes me, right?’ Bokuto thought.

Another thing was that they were practically non-stop messaging each other throughout the holidays. Usually Iit would be Bokuto who initiated conversation by sending a picture of a bird outside his window or something weird thing that his nephews did. And Akaashi would always reply and not just react to his photos, and not just reply but reply almost right after Bokuto sent them. If they had been messaging Bokuto just to humor him, they wouldn’t be keeping it up for such a long time. ‘BRO THIS IS UR CHANCE U SHOULD TAKE IT !!!!’ Kuroo had texted him at one point after one of Bokuto’s ‘bro, do u think akaashi likes me cause idk?’ texting sprees.

Bokuto sighed, looking at his finished scarf again as he debated what recycled gift bag he’d use to put it in. He had wanted to give it to Akaashi before the year ended and now it was New Year’s Eve and Bokuto still hadn’t done it. “Ahhhhh!!! Come on Universe just give me a fucking sign!” he groaned, banging his head on his closet door, only for the various things he placed on top of his closet to fall down on him. “Come on,” he sighed, leaning down to pick up what fell down, which were mostly empty shopping bags that he liked to recycle when giving gifts. However, on the floor, right in front of him, was a shopping bag from the Nike with their signature ‘Just do it’ tagline. Bokuto froze.

“Universe, is this you?” he said out loud, kneeling down to pick up the paper bag. He never really understood why that was Nike’s tagline, especially since it was very vague, but it sure was catchy. But right now, Bokuto took it as the Universe’s sign. “Alright, I’ll do it. Today,” he nodded, determinedly, taking his half-charged phone to message Akaashi again, asking to meet up.

…

Akaashi loved the winter break. It was a great time for them to relax, regenerate the amount of brain cells they had lost from finals, and work on producing new content for their channel. They felt very productive being able to film a new video every day and actually having time to go through the supportive comments on their channel. They had just finished filming a Winter Lookbook video yesterday and now, Akaashi was working on a Q and A video to celebrate a subscriber milestone.

“Hello guys! Happy Holidays, I hope all is well in your homes, and welcome to another Q and A video that some of you highly requested,” Akaashi spoke, looking directly at the camera. When they first started a Youtube channel, Akaashi was worried that they’d have to maintain a specific personality on-camera. To their surprise, their fans liked how chill they were in their videos and didn’t force them to be more extroverted. “Thanks again for all the questions you’ve sent me through the comments and through my Twitter account. So, first one up is from miraa v,” Akaashi pulled up their phone to read. “’Hello Keiji-san! I hope you’re having a great day’, thanks miraa I’m having a good one, ‘I was wondering what kinds of activities do you like to do with your friends?’”

“Well, my friends and I usually bond over homework and other things we work on but lately, we were able to hang out in a karaoke bar which was really fun. I hope to do it again,” Akaashi added with a smile. Although, one of the things he remembered most about that night was watching Bokuto sing. Akaashi didn’t know that Bokuto was such a master at karaoke, but then they should have figured out as much with Kuroo as his best friend. And they couldn’t help but wonder if when Bokuto was singing ‘I Wanna Know What Love Is’, him looking at Akaashi was intentional. They just couldn’t get it out of their head. Now Akaashi found themselves humming the song throughout the day.

“Next question, by Enchantress_45: ‘Sorry if it’s a bit TMI but, is there anything you look for particularly in a partner? You don’t have to answer the question if you’re no too comfortable!’ Well, interesting question, Enchantress,” Akaashi smiled at the camera, thoughts immediately flying to a particular diner owner. “Well, I don’t look for much in particular. I like a guy who’s sweet and caring, preferably taller than me. I kind of like, arm muscles, I guess? I mean, they’re pretty cool. Also guys who cook..?” Akaashi swallowed, realizing he just described Bokuto. He considered cutting the footage before deciding against it and proceeded to answer more questions.

“Finally, we have color_me_surprised, haha nice url, asking for advice. ‘Hi Keiji-san! Do you have any advice on confessing to your crush? I’ve liked a boy from my club for a while and I’m not sure how to tell him or even if I should tell him,’” Akaashi tapped their phone against their chin, thinking. “Well, in regards to your second concern, whether you should tell him, I think that nothing is wrong with following what your heart says, especially if it’s something that’s been on your mind for a while. If he shares your feelings, then congratulations. But if not, I’m sure there is another person out there for you,” they said encouragingly. “I haven’t had any experiences confessing to a crush but, I heard from shoujo manga that New Year’s is a great time to do so,” Akaashi nodded.

And with that, they wrapped the outro for the video and headed out to the kitchen to make some tea. Their father was already there, bent over the counter and whisking something in a bowl. “Hey Dad, what are you making?” Akaashi asked while filling a kettle with water.

“Oh, I was thinking of trying my hand at brownies,” he grinned, pushing his glasses up his nose, accidentally getting brownie batter on his forehead. “Hopefully they won't burn this time.” Akaashi smiled. Their dad liked to use the holiday time, after grading papers for three straight days, to experiment with baking. So far, he hasn’t succeeded much but Akaashi was more than willing to eat burnt cookies with milk if it meant their father wouldn’t lose hope.

“I’m sure they’ll turn out alright,” they said, pouring hot water into their mug and wondering if they’d rather have tea or changing to hot chocolate. ‘Well, why the hell not?’ Akaashi shrugged, taking a packet of cocoa mix from the cupboard. While waiting for their cocoa to cool at the table, they suddenly remembered that time when Bokuto came over to get his laundry done. ‘That was quite some time ago,’ Akaashi mused before being alerted by a phone notification. Before even checking it, they had a sneaking suspicion it was a message from Bokuto. Lately, Akaashi had been enjoying messaging him, especially when he sent them random pictures of things like the bird with feathers that looked Bokuto’s hair and his nephews building a snowman. Now, however, it wasn’t a picture that Bokuto sent.

[from: Bokuto-san]

(5:07 pm) _AKAAAASHII_

(5:07 pm) _i’m in the area !!!_

(5:07 pm) _would you like to meet up for a bit?_

Akaashi felt a smile grow on their face as they slurped their cocoa and typed a quick reply. “Dad, can I go out for a while?” they asked.

“Sure, just be back within the year,” their dad winked. Akaashi rolled their eyes. “And dress warmly.”

“Will do!”

Half an hour later, Akaashi was dressed in their warmest sweater and coat, waiting in front of Bird’s Nest diner. Bokuto hadn’t messaged them about where to meet up but Akaashi knew they both meant to see each other at the diner. And sure enough, they spotted Bokuto jogging to the diner in the distance. It reminded Akaashi of the first time they met Bokuto. ‘It feels as if hardly a day has passed,’ Akaashi smiled as they watched him.

“Akaashi!” Bokuto grinned, slowing to a stop in front of them. “Sorry, did you wait long?”

“Nope, just arrived,” Akaashi smiled. Somehow, they couldn’t keep themselves from smiling. ‘Is it the New Year euphoria?’ they wondered.

“Merry Christmas!” Bokuto exclaimed, handing them the paper bag they were holding. “Well, I guess it’s Belated Merry Christmas at this point. But I wanted to see you to give you a gift!”

“That’s sweet, thank you Bokuto-san,” Akaashi chuckled, opening the paper bag. They heard a sharp intake of breath from Bokuto as they pulled out a lumpy, green bundle that turned out to be a scarf.

“I-I made it with my Mom during the break,” Bokuto said sheepishly. “It’s not really the best-looking scarf, especially compared to the one you gave me, but I was hoping you’d like it.”

“You made this?” Akaashi held the scarf close to their chest. Nobody had ever done something like this for them before.

“Do you… like it?” Bokuto asked. Akaashi smiled and wound the scarf around their neck.

“I love it.”

“That’s great!” Bokuto laughed, sounding relieved. “Honestly, I didn’t know the first thing when it came to knitting and…” Akaashi found themselves tuning out to the rest of what he was saying as they ran their fingers through the scarf around their neck. Bokuto was right there in front of them and Akaashi wanted nothing more than to bury their face in his chest and for Bokuto to look at them the same way he did back at the karaoke bar.

_I wanna know what love is. I want you to show me._

The lyrics hummed in Akaashi’s head as they stepped forward, moving closer before planting a kiss on Bokuto’s cheek.

“Akaashi?” he said. And just like that, Akaashi was snapped back to reality. They hadn’t realized that Bokuto had stopped talking for a while.

“Bokuto-san…” Akaashi breathed out, their face so close with Bokuto’s. And there it was, that same look he had when he sang in the karaoke bar. ‘Could it be…?’ they wondered, only for that question to be answered by Bokuto kissing them on the lips. Akaashi closed their eyes and let their arms wrap around Bokuto’s neck as they felt themselves being lifted up.

“Akaashi,” Bokuto gasped once they came up for air. “I…”

“I think I’m in love with you,” they said in unison. Akaashi felt as if there were bubbles rising up from their chest and hid their smile by nuzzling their face in Bokuto’s neck.

“I know I love you,” they said. “I’ve liked you for quite some time now.”

“Me too!” Bokuto exclaimed. “Oh my god, I thought you didn’t feel the same way. I was so stressed!”

“You didn’t have to be,” Akaashi chuckled.

“Thank you, Nike!” Bokuto grinned, pumping his fists in the air.

“Why Nike?” Akaashi asked.

“Oh, it’s a bit of a long story,” Bokuto said sheepishly. “Unless…?”

“I could use some hot chocolate,” Akaashi smiled knowingly, even though they just drank some.

“Me too,” Bokuto nodded, taking their hand and started walking. On the way, Akaashi texted their dad, letting them know that they’ll be a bit late, but would know doubt make it back within the year.

…

Christmas with Tsukishima’s family often meant spending time with Tanaka’s family, since Akiteru and Saeko had been dating for quite a few years, and also because they didn’t really do much during the holidays except watch a lot of TV. After charging his social battery for two days in his room after having to spend a whole day with Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Tsukishima was ready to interact with his own family again. At the moment, he and Akiteru were marathoning the good horror movies of the past year. Unfortunately, Akiteru was quite chatty when they were watching on TV compared to when they were in a theater.

“So, did you make any friends other than your housemates?” he asked. Tsukishima sighed softly, realizing it was time for a whole conversation to happen. But at the same time, he found himself in the mood to talk, especially since he met a whole new bunch of weirdos that were integrated with Tsukishima’s usual bunch of weirdos.

“Remember that podcast you recommended to me back in high school? ‘Screams On-Screen?’”

“Isn’t that the only podcast you ever listen to and talk about?” Akiteru snorted.

“No,” Tsukishima scowled. “But anyway, I, uh, met the creator, Cat’s Pajamas.”

“What?” Akiteru sat up immediately from the floor he was lying on. “No way! Does he go to your college? How old is he? How does he look like? When did you meet him?”

“Um, he graduated from my college. 23 years old, I think. He, looks kind of like a regular guy…” Tsukishima trailed off, knowing for a fact that Kuroo was hotter than the ‘regular guy’. “His hair is pretty wild. And that’s actually an interesting story…”

“Tell it! Tell it!” Akiteru exclaimed.

“Well, I saw him in a convenience store at two in the morning,” Tsukishima answered. For some reason, the full story felt a bit too precious for him to just casually talk about, even if said story involved ‘glam’ pants and an accidental comment.

“So? Did you get an autograph?”

“No, that’d be weird.”

“He’s been our favorite podcaster for years!” Akiteru said exasperatedly. “Wait, don’t tell me. Are you guys _fiends_?”

“Well, I’ve watched Sharknado with him at his house so I guess we’re ‘friends’”, Tsukishima said.

“Do you think he’ll give me an autograph?” Akiteru asked.

“Maybe, but he’d probably be really shy about it,” Tsukishima smiled to himself. He never expected to easily befriend Kuroo after knowing he was the podcaster he had looked up to for so long, but it was so easy to because of how easy he was to be around. He gave car rides without anyone asking and almost anything he did was guaranteed to make Tsukishima facepalm or shake his head. It was as if he took everything in stride, something that Tsukishima struggled with. ‘I’m actually surprised that he befriended me, of all people,’ he thought, remembering his birthday when Kuroo unexpectedly showed up with Giraffe Dinosaur.

They say meeting your idols in real life was only going to leave you disappointed, but Tsukishima quickly realized that it only applied to whether you’d eventually see them as a person. And Kuroo was Cat’s Pajamas as much as he was Kuroo. He liked joining weird Facebook groups for the fun of it. He wore ‘glam’ pants and easily did anything in 4-inch high stilettos. He procrastinated and chased deadlines. He liked staying in the children’s section of the library and worked on a busted-up laptop. He missed watching cult-classic horror movies. He liked watching Barbie movies when he was younger and liked riding rollercoasters with his moms. His shampoo smelled like mint and he slept pressing two pillows to his head.

“Man, maybe I should drive you to Tokyo next semester so I could meet him,” Akiteru said.

“Don’t be weird, Nii-chan,” Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

Thinking about Kuroo so much made Tsukishima actually miss him a lot. The last time they saw each other, Tsukishima was too sleep-deprived to even remember Kuroo driving him home and attempting to carry him up the apartment only to call Yamaguchi to help him, only for both of them to wake Tsukishima up. The thought of Kuroo with his arms wrapped around him, trying to hoist him up, was enough to make Tsukishima space out.

After their movie marathon, Tsukishima stayed in his room and absentmindedly went through his phone. A few days ago, he had heard from Yamaguchi that he and Yachi were a couple now, which Tsukishima was surprised about especially since he didn’t think his friend would confess this early. ‘But it’s a good thing for them,’ he thought, looking at the selfie Yamaguchi sent of him and Yachi. Once again, Tsukishima found himself going through his conversation history with Kuroo, even scrolling farther back to when he didn’t know that he was Cat’s Pajamas and just knew him as a weird guy from a Flat Earth society group. And then, as if he mentally willed it, Kuroo actually began calling him.

By reflex, Tsukishima sat up and stared at disbelief at his phone, making sure that it was in fact Kuroo who was calling him and that Tsukishima was not the one who called him. When he was sure, he quickly picked up the call.

“He—”

_“Tsukishimaaaaaaa I’m bored!”_ Kuroo’s voice crowed through the phone.

“I thought the volleydorks were staying over in your place.”

_“Volleydorks. Heh, good one Tsukki.”_ Tsukishima felt his cheeks flush at the compliment. _“But they left right after Christmas to go back to training. Do you think they ‘The Shining’-ed themselves already? I kept telling Kenma it would happen but he wouldn’t believe me.”_

“First of all, I can’t believe you used ‘The Shining’ as a verb. Secondly, have you ever considered the fact that Kenma’s a rational, human being?”

_“Yeah, you’re both Libras. Anyway, bottom line is I’m bored so talk to me.”_

Tsukishima crossed his arms and lay back in his bed. “Talk about what?”

_“I don’t know. Something cool.”_

“Well, Yamaguchi and Yachi got together apparently.”

_“What? No way! When?”_

“A day after Christmas, apparently.”

_“Love sure is in the air, huh? Cause guess what? Bokuto and Akaashi got together.”_

“No way,” Tsukishima said, legitimately surprised. He hadn’t expected Akaashi to have the same feelings. But then again, Kuroo had fallen for Bokuto too. ‘Well, he is the human embodiment of a puppy’s personality’, Tsukishima thought. “When?”

_“Earlier today. I got a text.”_

“Oh,” Tsukishima swallowed. After the karaoke incident and Tsukishima’s sleepover at Kuroo’s house, they hadn’t really talked about it all that much. Kuroo seemed fine on the outside, but who knew what he was thinking. “Are you—”

_“Don’t get all sappy on me, Tsukki,”_ he heard Kuroo snicker. _“If I wanted someone to be sappy at I would have called Yamaguchi. But I don’t know, I’m pretty much over it, I guess?”_

“I see,” Tsukishima said, feeling hope bubble in his chest. And before he could stop himself, he found himself asking “Do you regret it?”

_“Falling for Bokuto? Well, it did get me into this whole manning a diner business and now appearing on TV, and I did come upon meeting you. So, all in all, I don’t regret it. I guess I’m destined to meet and be with some other weirdo in the future.”_

“That’s if you don’t scare them off first.”

_“No way! I’m super friendly and cute!”_

“Yeah, right.”

_“Anyway, what’s been going with you Tsukki?”_

“Well, my brother completely flipped when he found out I was friends with you. He’s actually the one who got me into your podcast.”

_“Whoaaaa. Really?”_

“Says he wants your autograph too.”

_“My autograph?! Well… if he insists.”_

Tsukishima chuckled, knowing that he was on point with Kuroo’s reaction.

_“What’s so funny?”_ Kuroo asked.

“I just expected you’d be shy about someone asking for your autograph.”

_“Haha, I guess you know me pretty well.”_

“I guess so.” Tsukishima closed his eyes and imagined himself back at Kuroo’s room.

_“Did you bring Giraffe Dinosaur home with you?”_

“It’s a Brachiosaurus. And yes, Yamaguchi snuck him in my bag.” That was a lie. Giraffe Dinosaur was the first thing he packed in his backpack, even if he had to sacrifice one of his favorite sweaters for it.

_“Awesome! I’m holding Sharky right now.”_

“Out of all the names you could use, why did it have to be Sharky?”

_“Shut up, Tsukki. Anyway, hold Giraffe Dinosaur right now.”_

“…Why?”

_“So that we’re connected!”_

“This is dumb,” Tsukishima scoffed but plucked Giraffe Dinosaur from his nightstand and held it awkwardly around one arm.

_“Haha, I bet you just followed me right now. Anyway, because of that Sharknado marathon I’ve been watching an unhealthy amount of bad shark movies. I watched this one called Sand Shark and it was so fucking terrible, I was practically sobbing into Sharky.”_

“I’m glad. You should check out Sharktopus.”

_“Oh my god. Let me guess: it’s about a shark-octopus hybrid created through genetic modification.”_

“That and terrible, terrible CGI.”

_“I can’t wait.”_

“Kei!” Suddenly, his mother burst into the room. “Monster Bug Wars is starting.” Tsukishima quickly covered his phone speaker.

“Mom, can you please knock next time?” he hissed.

“You never told me to knock before,” she smiled sneakily. “Dare I ask that you’re talking to the person who gave you that dinosaur plushie?”

“I’ll be out in two minutes. Please,” Tsukishima sighed, thinking of nothing else he could reply.

“Be quick. It’s a spider vs. spider match,” she grinned, leaving and closing the door behind her. Tsukishima winced and placed his ear against his phone again.

“Hello…?”

_“Oh my god, you and your mom watch Monster Bug Wars? That’s so fucking cute.”_

“Yeah, yeah,” Tsukishima rolled his eyes.

_“And I mean cute as in genuinely cute and not cringey cute.”_

“I know.”

_“Well, I’m not going to keep you from that very interesting spider vs. spider match.”_

“Alright. Say hi to your moms for me.”

_“Oh, I was on speakerphone the whole time.”_

“What?!”

_“Haha, got you there.”_

“Goodbye Kuroo,” Tsukishima sighed.

_“Happy New Year, Tsukki.”_

Tsukishima put the phone down and headed to the living room where his mother and brother were already seated in front of the television with a bag of potato chips between them. Tsukishima sat in the middle to give himself maximum access to the snacks. “So,” his mother spoke up. “That person you were on the phone must have been worth missing the intro for,” she said as the two spiders on TV began fighting. He loved watching the intro.

“I didn’t expect he would call,” Tsukishima muttered. But deep down, he knew, talking to Kuroo was worth missing the intro of Monster Bug Wars for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! hope you enjoyed all the yamayachi and bokuaka happening in this chapter. personally, i liked the part when kuroo and his moms adopted hinata and kageyama on christmas. 
> 
> we're actually maybe 3 chapters away from the ending but i've been feeling pretty burnt-out lately so i'll be taking a week off (probs watching kdrama) and posting the next chapter maybe next, next week so i hope u guys understand :'(. also! i'm working on another bokuaka fic and i have of three chapters posted so check out [his emerald eyes, his paint-streaked hands](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24389560) if you're interested in crying.
> 
> also! if u haven't checked it out, i have a tumblr blog where i write some random haikyuu headcanons, scenarios and other things my brain thinks out. so if you're interested in something like a haikyuu buzzfeed unsolved au, check out [@dinosaurtsukki](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/dinosaurtsukki) . my inbox and chat is also open if you want to rant about haikyuu hehe


	9. new life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by: 100% sugar milktea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello hello!! i have returned with a chapter! thank you so much for the kind comments and k-drama suggestions from last chapter (although i ended up getting addicted to playing stardew valley). i've also planned out the rest of the fic and how its gonna end so i hope i actually get to write it like how i imagined it in my head haahah. but anyway, without further ado, welcome to the post-christmas chapter

After the holidays, Kuroo found himself back in the diner with Bokuto and stocking up on ingredients again for when the diner opened again for the year. Most of it meant listening and nodding along to Bokuto’s news about the dates he’d been going on with Akaashi and the funny memes he’d been showing Akaashi and something new about Akaashi in general which would have depressed Kuroo to no end months ago. But now, it kind of felt as if a weight had been lifted from his chest and the only thing he was mildly annoyed about was his best friend mismatching the labels in the fridge because of how distracted he was.

Then, as if on cue, Hinata and Kageyama came into the diner, giving them a few extra hands at work. Kuroo often forgot how strong Hinata was because he looked so tiny but he had watched the little guy carry an entire sack of rice as if it was nothing. “Hey guys,” Bokuto greeted when they came in. “How were the holidays? I heard you spent Christmas at Kuroo’s place.”

“It was fun! The most fun we’ve had during the holidays,” Hinata grinned.

“Akane-san is a really good DM,” Kageyama added.

“Dungeon Master, in Dungeons and Dragons,” Kuroo explained to Bokuto.

“Ahhh. I never could get the hang of that game,” he chuckled. “There’s just so much to remember.”

“By the way, when are Tsukki and the others coming back?” Kuroo asked.

“Oh, they came back last night,” Kageyama said.

“What?! He didn’t tell me,” Kuroo pouted.

“They’re sleeping in because they took the late bus,” Hinata added. “I still can’t believe Yamaguchi’s dating Yachi-san!” he moaned.

“Why? Are you… jealous?” Bokuto gasped.

“No, it’s not like that,” Kageyama shook his head.

“It’s more like, who are we going to side with if they break up? They’re like… our parents!” Hinata exclaimed.

“I don’t think they’re going to be breaking up in the near future,” Kuroo reassured him.

Because the diner is where they all got together, it was somewhat a beacon for their friend group; the place where they’d all end up in without having to text each other. After Hinata and Kageyama, it was Akaashi who came by next, much to Bokuto’s delight. And then Yachi, who was interrogated by Hinata and Kageyama about how Yamaguchi confessed to her. Lastly, Yamaguchi, Tsukishima, and Kenma, who the two met on the way, came in. Both Tsukishima and Kenma were deep in conversation about the classes they were going to take next semester but when he came in, Tsukishima raised his head to give Kuroo a little wave. The last time they had all been in the diner together was when the students were still studying for finals late at night, long after the diner closed. After being fed by Bokuto, Kuroo had them all squeeze into his pick-up truck before dropping them all off home. That was the night before he brought a very tired, overworked-at-the-movie-theater Tsukishima home and almost had to carry him up the stairs.

“Hey, Tsukki,” Kuroo grinned, walking up to him once Kenma had resumed playing whatever mobile game he was into. “Will the movie theater be open later?”

“Tomorrow,” Tsukishima answered. “But it’s Happy Hour Thursdays.”

“Based on your tone, I’m assuming its not Happy Hour for you.”

“Terushima had this bright idea of separating movie genres according to the day of the week. Which, in all honesty, is pretty smart, but it’s kind of hard to sit through a full shift of nothing but romantic comedies starring very toxic ‘nice guys,’” he sighed. “But anyway, we’ll just be showing horror movies and thrillers on Fridays and Saturdays. The good thing is that we’ll be having Alien on Saturday.”

“Alien, huh? I haven’t watched that in a while,” Kuroo grinned. “Reserve a seat for me, will you?”

“You have to read the reservation policy,” Tsukishima said stoically.

“You’re no fun Tsukki,” he groaned. “Also, I had this really weird dream last night.”

“It’s not one of your ‘I could talk to cats’ dreams again, is it?” Kenma looked up from his phone and raised an eyebrow at him.

“No not that! You were in it actually,” Kuroo said. “In the dream I was standing like, right behind you but you didn’t notice me. But the weird thing is you were _shouting._ ”

“That is weird,” Tsukishima nodded.

“I know. I haven’t yelled, rather had to yell, since high school when I had to play volleyball during PE,” Kenma said. “And I would always get sick right after for some reason.”

“You got sick for shouting?” Tsukishima asked.

“Yeah, it happened all the time,” Kuroo laughed. “But the weird thing about the dream was that it felt prophetic for some reason. You know, like a weird kind of omen.”

“Or foreshadowing,” Tsukishima said. Kenma threw the both of them weird looks.

“Yeah, like something big is going to happen involving Kenma shouting again. The Prophecy of Kenma’s Yell,” Kuroo said.

“It’s just another one of your weird dreams,” Kenma sighed, going back to his game.

“Speaking of Kenma…”

“I’m right here, Kuroo.”

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about your Youtube gamer dreams,” Kuroo grinned.

“Oh, that…”

“Kenma was thinking of dropping out of college and becoming a Youtube gamer,” Kuroo explained to a confused-looking Tsukishima.

“You’re going to leave me alone in the Bone Classes?” Tsukishima asked softly.

“It’s not that official, Kei,” Kenma reassured him. “I’ll still be going to class this semester.” Kuroo smiled to himself at the exchange, glad to see Kenma making more friends, especially with Tsukishima who was quite similar to him.

“But yeah, I’ve decided to help you out by assembling a Kenma’s Youtuber Dreams Support Squad,” Kuroo flashed a thumbs-up. “They’ll be coming by your house tomorrow afternoon.”

“It’s Akaashi and Yachi, isn’t it?” Kenma said.

“You’re no fun,” Kuroo pouted. “But I got Hinata and Yamaguchi to help out. Think of them as a focus group for your future videos.”

“They’re not that hard to impress…” Tsukishima began but trailed off when he seemingly remembered something and opened his phone to find the text message Kuroo sent him last night, which he probably ignored. “Oh, I see,” he said.

“Have fun you kids!” Kuroo grinned, clapping them both on the back.

…

Before his Youtuber Dreams Support Squad could assemble at his house, Kenma had texted them beforehand asking to meet somewhere else, especially since his parents would most likely disapprove of the goal of said Support Squad. Instead, Yachi volunteered her house, because she lived by herself and had a pretty good camera set-up.

“Hi guys,” she greeted them at the door before ushering them into her living room. The interior of the house was pretty much everything Kenma expected of Yachi, with her being probably the most wholesome person in their group and also being an Interior Design student. Kenma sat down on the floor, already feeling the awkwardness set in since them being here was all revolving around him. ‘I should have prepared something to say the night before,’ he sighed.

“Ahhhh, I missed Yachi’s house. It’s so peaceful,” Hinata sighed happily, stretching out on the floor while Yachi set her bags down. Seeing Hinata relax partially made Kenma relax too.

“You do know that you’re welcome to come over here,” Yachi chuckled. “I’ll get some refreshments. Do you guys want anything to drink?”

“Anything you have is fine,” Akaashi smiled, sitting down beside Kenma.

“I’ll help you,” Yamaguchi added, joining Yachi at the kitchen. ‘They’re a really nice couple’, Kenma thought, finding himself watching the couple as they prepared a plate of cookies. He was never that interested in relationships but even he could appreciate the cute couple that was Yamaguchi and Yachi.

“So, I think we should start this off by talking about your objective with your channel,” Akaashi said, already pulling out their laptop and getting straight to business. ‘I’m so lucky to have them around,’ Kenma thought, straightening up. ‘But then, that also means I shouldn’t disappoint them.’

“Well, I do know that the gamer community in Youtube is pretty saturated but one thing that I noticed was how most of the playthroughs there are of mainstream games or ones developed by big-name industries,” Kenma began. “For my channel, if it does work, I want to focus on playthroughs of games by independent game developers. Even ones that don’t have the nicest graphics.”

“Mhmm,” Akaashi nodded as they encoded something in their laptop. “What do you think, Hinata?”

“M-me?” Hinata squeaked.

“Kuroo did choose you to join the Support Squad. And besides, I don’t much about the gaming community myself.”

“Well,” Hinata sat up as well. “I do think that there’s something to use with what Kenma said. Most of the playthroughs of games I encounter with the Youtubers I watch are of really popular games. But it should be interesting if Kenma’s channel specifically explores indie games since it explores their potential. After all, one of the best horror game franchises right now started out as a low-budget indie game. If it didn’t get the attention it deserved, there wouldn’t be more than five games now.”

“You’re talking about Five Nights at Freddies aren’t you?” Kenma smiled.

“Yeah! But… I’m too scared to play it,” Hinata said.

“If that’s the case then I think you have your objectives laid out pretty well, which is very important if you don’t want to derail your viewers,” Akaashi said.

“Sorry for the wait! I made some cookies yesterday,” Yachi came back, setting a plate piled high with cookies on the table. Yamaguchi was behind her with glasses of water.

“Thanks! You’re the best Yachi-san!” Hinata grinned, taking a handful of cookies.

“Leave some for other people,” Yamaguchi reminded him.

“Oh no, there’s more where that came from,” Yachi chuckled nervously. Kenma and Akaashi shared a look. ‘She invited us over to finish the cookies,’ Kenma thought.

“Why are there so many cookies?” Hinata asked through a mouthful of cookie.

“I uh, stress-baked,” Yachi laughed weakly. “One of the classes I’m taking has a really strict professor so I tried to bake to relieve my stress and ended up baking three dozen cookies.”

“I wish I could stress-bake this well,” Akaashi said, already halfway through their cookie. “I end up knitting scarves when I’m stressed.”

“So that’s why you have so many scarves,” Yachi said.

“Well, I guess you guys could guess what I do to de-stress,” Kenma said. “I once played Sims 4 for ten hours straight.”

“I practice serves, which also gets me stressed again in the first place,” Hinata said.

“You guys do all those? I just sleep for three hours!” Yamaguchi exclaimed. Everyone laughed, even Kenma found himself chuckling. ‘This might not be so bad after all,’ he thought. Eventually, they all got back to working on helping Kenma figure out the basics for his channel. While Akaashi worked on a list of his possible content, Yachi helped him set up his channel on Youtube, even going so far as to offer designing a logo. Yamaguchi and Hinata were basically their sounding board of ideas. Time passed quickly and soon, everyone headed home carrying the rest of the cookies that Yachi stress-baked. Kenma ate more of them at home as he reviewed Akaashi’s notes and the beginnings of his Youtube channel. Normally, at this point, he would feel scared of beginning something new and uncertain. However, Kuroo suddenly came to mind.

It had just been the two of them hanging out in his bedroom when Kuroo started setting up his podcast on a website. Back then, it had just been Kuroo recording episodes with the microphone on his laptop and free, uncopyrighted music. ‘He was so nervous at that time. I’ve never seen Kuroo that nervous,’ Kenma thought, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling as he reminisced. But he still kept going, even though he hadn’t received a sponsor or any offers to put his podcast on a better platform yet. He still didn’t quite know what it is motivated Kuroo to keep producing content, but maybe for now, Kenma was starting to have a taste of it.

Instead of doing so much as to check his class schedule, he opened the ‘Screams On-Screen’ website and listened to the very first episode Kuroo made: ‘Unknown Terrors: Looking into the Xenomorph from the Movie Alien.’ Kenma had argued with him about how long the title was but Kuroo was stubborn and went with it. Putting his headphones over his ears, Kenma lay back down in bed.

_“Hello everyone! And welcome to the very first episode of Screams On-Screen: A Podcast on Horror Movies. Thank you so much for giving this a listen. Now, I’ve always been a fan of horror movies and it was only until I started studying Film Theory in university that I began to gain a really deep appreciation of how horror movies are created and what exactly about them keeps us watching again and again despite how scary they are,”_ Kuroo’s voice, and a hint of background noise, streamed through the headphones. Kenma was actually in his bedroom during the recording, eating chips and playing on his phone. Kuroo just wanted him around for emotional support. ‘I hope you get your big break soon,’ Kenma silently prayed. Just as he was about to drift off to sleep, he received a text message from Kuroo himself.

[from: free convenience store slushies]

(8:08 pm) _hey kenma!_

(8:08 pm) _how was the support squad session? :D_

[to: free convenience store slushies]

(8:08 pm) _it was good_

[from: free convenience store slushies]

(8:08 pm) _wow an instant reply_

(8:09 pm) _must have been great then lol_

Kenma smiled to himself before finally texting

[to: free convenience store slushies]

(8:09 pm) _thanks for that btw_

[from: free convenience store slushies]

(8:09 pm) _WHOA_

(8:09 pm) _IS THAT REALLY U KENMA?_

(8:09 pm) _YOU’RE GONNA MAKE ME CRY_

Kenma rolled his eyes and put his phone down, realizing that he should have expected this response. But then, he knew what the response was going to be and did it anyway. 

…

Despite the fact that class already started, and that all of his professors already gave out the reading lists for the semester and assignments to read whole novels before coming to class next week, Yamaguchi found himself procrastinating, as usual, by helping Bokuto and Kuroo out with practicing for the last stage of the competition. Of course, that also meant being able to hang out with Yachi, who Yamaguchi still had trouble wrapping around the fact that she was his girlfriend. Both of them had that mutual understanding that they were dating but since it was both their first relationship, neither of them were bold enough to say the b-word and g-word quite yet.

“Alright, timer start!” Yachi announced as Bokuto and Kuroo immediately began cooking. They’ve been training by Yamaguchi and Yachi giving random prompts for dishes to make in the given time, using whatever was in the kitchen. As someone who watched way too much cooking shows, Yamaguchi thought he was quite suited for the job of judging. And it did give him free food.

“Is it just me or are they much faster moving in the kitchen now than before?” Yachi whispered, leaning closer to him. Today, she had her hair pulled back with a peach-colored headband.

“Yeah, they’re definitely in it for the win,” Yamaguchi whispered back. “They’ve still been trending a lot on Twitter since the holidays which is great publicity for the diner.”

“That means Hinata and Kageyama are going to have to be working hard, especially with Nationals coming up.”

“I know. They just head straight to bed whenever they come home. Kageyama even fell asleep while showering and Tsukki and I were about to bust the door down!” Yamaguchi exclaimed.

“Let’s hope things turn out well for them,” Yachi said.

“Just like it’s turned out for us?” Yamaguchi smiled shyly.

“Yeah!” Yachi nodded.

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask you…” Yamaguchi rubbed the back of his head nervously. “We haven’t gone out on a proper date since we went to the café during the holidays. So, I was wondering, if you’re free on Friday…”

“Yes!” Yachi said immediately. “I-I mean, yes, I’m free,” she smiled. “What are you planning?”

“Well, I’ve heard there’s a pretty exciting aquarium a few bus rides away,” Yamaguchi said. “And I heard its really neat! They have this really cool jellyfish exhibit that they keep in a dark room so they glow in the dark.”

“That sounds fun! I’ve always wanted to go on an aquarium date,” Yachi giggled.

“So, will I pick you up after class?” Yamaguchi asked, feeling his confidence grow.

“Sure thing!” Yachi nodded.

This time, Yamaguchi almost spent the entire Thursday night bothering Tsukishima about what shirt he was going to wear again, only for him to settle on a dark, green sweater and his best pair of jeans. ‘I can’t believe we’re still doing this when you guys are literally together already,’ Tsukishima had complained. When Friday finally came around, Yamaguchi was restless all morning before his classes began. He couldn’t even bring himself to do the readings for class until class actually started and he read a book in secret under his desk and haphazardly took notes after. Finally, all his classes ended and Yamaguchi practically ran to the Architecture Studies building to find Yachi already waiting outside.

“Yamaguchi-kun!” she smiled, walking briskly up to meet him. Her hair was tied into a side ponytail that fell over her shoulder with turtle-shaped clip on her bangs. She also wore a light blue cardigan over her white dress.

“Hey, I like your hair clip today,” Yamaguchi greeted, pointing at the turtle in Yachi’s bangs.

“Oh, this? I wanted to kind of keep the theme today,” she smiled. Yamaguchi took her hand in his and the two of them left for the nearby bus stop.

“So, how was your first week of classes?” he asked as soon as they were seated in the bus.

“Well, I can tell I’ll have even more work this semester, if that’s even possible,” Yachi sighed. “But I am excited for this one class where we get to apply what we’ve learned so far by creating designs with clients.”

“Oh, like the assignment you had with Bird’s Nest.”

“Like that!” Yachi nodded. “Actually, my professor liked my work there so much that they recommended me for the class I’m taking now even though I’m supposed to be taking it next year,” Yachi smiled. Yamaguchi liked seeing her like this, confident and excited with the work she was doing.

“That’s great!” Yamaguchi grinned. “So, have you thought about what you’re doing after university?”

“Well, I was thinking of either working as a freelance designer, especially since I enjoyed the work I did with Bird’s Nest, or studying more on museum curatorship.”

“Museum curatorship?”

“Uh-huh, or set design. Anything related more to the production side of art,” Yachi said. “I think those are the most exciting things to work on.”

“I think you’ll do great no matter what you do,” Yamaguchi said, squeezing her hand gently. Yachi smiled, hesitated a bit, before leaning on his shoulder.

“How about you? How are your classes?”

“Well, I did get the one I’ve been wanting for so long.”

“Is it related to drama?”

“That’s right,” Yamaguchi nodded. “But it’s a Works in Translation class so that’s a plus! Only, the professor didn’t show up in class and when I asked around it turns out they’re notorious for not showing up to class and leaving more readings to do.”

“They can do that?” Yachi gasped.

“Professors in the English Department do it all the time,” Yamaguchi shrugged.

“I was once certain that my professor was going to cut class only for them to walk right into the classroom with a cold pack on their forehead and a box of tissues just as we were heading out.”

“They came in even though they had a cold?!”

“It was a 42-degree fever apparently,” Yachi said. “But yes, we still had class.”

“Ah, I feel sorry for you. I hope one day you get to experience the joy of a class cut.”

“If I do, you’ll be the first one I’d tell,” she giggled.

“I’d cut any class for you, Yachi-san!” Yamaguchi flashed her a thumbs-up.

“No! I didn’t mean that!” she exclaimed.

A good twenty minutes later, they reached the aquarium and had an early dinner at a nearby café. Yamaguchi’s years of saving money to either go on dates or spend on a limited-edition Sasuke figurine and was glad that he didn’t have to spend them on the latter. Finally, it was time for them to enter the aquarium. From the inside, it looked much bigger than it did on the outside, especially with tanks full of different coral reef fish lining the walls of the first floor.

“Whoa…” Yachi said, standing in the center of the room and taking everything in.

“I could say that again,” Yamaguchi said.

“Whoa…”

“What do you want to check out first?” Yamaguchi laughed.

“The turtles! The turtles!” Yachi exclaimed excitedly, pointing at a tank with sea turtles swimming in it. Without waiting for Yamaguchi to respond, she took his hand and pulled him over before proceeding to press herself as near to the glass without touching it. “They look so cute,” she gushed, watching one of the turtles swim past. Yamaguchi smiled as he kept his eyes on her.

“They sure do.”

“What do you want to check out next, Yamaguchi?” she asked, looking at him. Yamaguchi looked around and knew he could spend an entire day in this place, especially with Yachi beside him. They ended up spending an average of ten minutes looking at the contents of each tank and there were a lot of tanks in the building. Yamaguchi knew they could always come back another day but none of them would be their first date any more. And he could tell Yachi was in no mind to rush things.

Finally, they arrived back at the lobby and were browsing through the contents of the souvenir shop. Both of them debated on what to buy to keep as a remembrance of their first date before deciding on matching phone charms. ‘I don’t know at what point people decided that phone charms weren’t cool but it sure is a shame there aren’t more phone charms in this world,’ Yachi had said, and Yamaguchi heartfeltly agreed. After walking out of the souvenir shop, Yamaguchi’s eyes landed on a photobooth near the exit.

“Hey, want another way to remember this date?” Yamaguchi grinned, pointing at the photobooth machine.

“Definitely!” Yachi nodded. “I was thinking of bringing my polaroid but they don’t allow flash photography inside,” she said as they stepped into the small machine.

“Alright, ready?” Yamaguchi asked as Yachi smoothed her hair and positioned herself in front of the camera.

“Go!” she grinned. The two of them posed for a series of six shots. For the last one, Yachi surprised Yamaguchi by kissing him on the cheek, only to be embarrassed quickly after. Yamaguchi flushed but kissed her on the cheek as well.

“So we’re even,” he smiled shyly as Yachi looked at him in surprise.

“So we’re even,” she nodded, smiling. In the bus on the way back, they divided the pictures between themselves, choosing to play rock-paper-scissors for the picture of Yachi kissing him. The picture ended up going to Yamaguchi but they agreed to take more on their next dates.

“I’ll put this one in my journal,” Yachi smiled, looking at the picture of them flashing matching peace signs.

“I was thinking of adding mine to my wallet and another in a bookmark, but I’m afraid I’ll lose it if I turn it into a bookmark,” Yamaguchi fussed.

“Why not put it in your phone case?” Yachi suggested. “Here.” She took his phone from him and slipped the picture of them caught mid-laugh into the back of his phone case.

“That’s smart! Why haven’t I thought of this,” Yamaguchi grinned, admiring his new phone case.

“I’ll do it for mine too,” she giggled. “Now our phones match!” she said, showing off her phone with a picture of them in the case and a pink dolphin phone charm.

“Only mine’s been smashed a couple of times,” Yamaguchi said sheepishly, showing his screen with all its cracks.

“Oh Yamaguchi,” Yachi laughed.

It was quite late by the time Yamaguchi came home and he had a ton of readings to catch up on especially since he procrastinated all week. But he had three pictures of him and Yachi with him, brand-new knowledge of coral reefs, and a blue dolphin phone charm. And that was more than enough.

…

“Alright! See you all again tomorrow,” the coach said, dismissing the volleyball team for the day. Hinata and Kageyama shared a look.

“It’s still thirty minutes before six. Can’t we use up all of our practice time? Especially with Nationals coming along?” Kageyama asked.

“Nationals is still a week away, you have plenty of time to practice,” Coach waved them off. “And besides, you can make use of the gym for your individual practice. Like you always do,” he grumbled towards the end.

“But that’s the point! Nationals is a week away and that’s already really soon!” Hinata protested only for Kageyama to hold him back with a hand on his shoulder. When Hinata looked around at his teammates, he could tell that almost everyone wanted to go home already. So, he bit his tongue again and stood back.

“Good. Now, if that’s all anyone has to say, you’re all free to go,” their coach said. Eventually, the gym emptied out, leaving Hinata and Kageyama alone to work on their jump serves. Except, Hinata could feel that neither he nor Kageyama were into it and they ended up just tossing the ball back and forth over the net.

“I want to train with a professional team already. I never thought that college volleyball teams could be so boring,” Hinata huffed, tossing the ball a little bit too hard and too far.

“That’s because we trained with really cool ones,” Kageyama said, tossing the ball back effortlessly. This time, Hinata didn’t even attempt to toss it back.

“What if, we don’t get scouted at all? What if they just look at our team as a whole and decide that we suck,” Hinata asked, speaking all of his anxieties out loud.

“Look, you’re just being irrational. There’s no way we won’t be able to get some people to notice us,” Kageyama said.

“But what if they don’t?!” Hinata exclaimed, his voice rising high as he felt his breathing quicken. “What if no one scouts us and we’re stuck in this lame-ass college volleyball team for one more year? What if we end up not liking volleyball anymore if we stay here?”

“Hey, calm down,” Kageyama said, approaching him from the other side of the net. “Breathe, Hinata. Breathe.”

He hadn’t realized it but Hinata was hyperventilating. He clenched his hands and nodded, following Kageyama’s instructions. “Sorry…” he said, once he calmed down a bit. “It’s just…”

“The Nationals stress, the coach, and basically everything,” Kageyama nodded. “Yeah, it’s not just you.”

“How are you so fucking calm all the time?” Hinata groaned, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

“Because I’m always around you,” Kageyama joked. “And come on, I can’t believe you even considered us not liking volleyball anymore.”

“Yeah, yeah. I got it,” Hinata sighed.

“I know we both hate being dismissed early but, do you want to just take a break for today? Bokuto texted me earlier and said we could have the rest of the week off because its almost Nationals.”

“Hmm, only if we order pizza and stay at home.”

“You read my mind.”

Half an hour later, they were back at their apartment with two boxes of pizza and plans to play Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3. However, once they got home, they found Tsukishima and Kenma working on what appeared to be another diorama for class. “Kenma!” Hinata grinned broadly, sprinting inside the house.

“Hey Shoyo,” Kenma greeted back.

“I thought volleyball practice ended much later?” Tsukishima raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah but our coach sucks. Anyway, pizza?” Kageyama said laying the boxes down on the coffee table. Tsukishima and Kenma looked from their diorama to the pizza box before setting their diorama down and helping themselves.

“I can’t believe both of you considered eating a box each,” Tsukishima said.

“We didn’t! We were gonna put the rest in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow morning,” Hinata explained.

“Gross, cold pizza,” Tsukishima shivered.

“Cold pizza’s great. What are you talking about?” Kenma said.

“Ugh, not you too.”

“So, Nationals is next week huh?” Kenma asked, leaning against the couch next to Hinata while Kageyama and Tsukishima flipped through the TV channels.

“Yeah,” Hinata sighed.

“You were excited about it a week ago, Shoyou.”

“Yeah,” Hinata said, already feeling that he just wasn’t his usual self. He hadn’t been lately. “I don’t know. Its hard to be excited about something when it’s just two of you being excited. I miss my old volleyball team.”

“What were your teammates like?” Kenma asked.

“Well, for one we were always excited about volleyball. Except for Tsukki maybe,” Hinata snickered.

“Hey, I put a lot of effort into volleyball,” Tsukishima argued.

“You were in a volleyball team?” Kenma’s eyes widened.

“He’s our genius middle blocker,” Kageyama grinned. “I miss tossing to people like Asahi and Tanaka. Even if my toss was too high or low, which it barely was, they still hit it as best as they could.”

“And it didn’t matter if you messed up more than a couple times during a game,” Hinata added, his voice rising as he relived his favorite days playing volleyball with his teammates. “Our team captain when we were first-years, Daichi, always told us that we will always have a chance to score as long as the ball was still in the air.”

“That sounds fun. Well, not really my idea of fun, but fun for you,” Kenma said.

“What clubs were you in, Kenma?”

“I joined a Film Club just because Kuroo was there too,” he said. “I wasn’t really good at anything except for staying completely still while holding a camera.”

“That’s a good skill,” Tsukishima pointed out.

“I guess,” Kenma shrugged.

“I just wish we were playing with a more enthusiastic team, you know? They don’t have to be that crazy-skilled or anything but just able to put their all into playing and improving,” Hinata said exasperatedly.

“I’m sure you’ll find a team like that someday, Shoyo,” Kenma said. Hinata didn’t know why, but there was just something believable about whatever Kenma said. ‘Maybe it’s because he’s so logical like Tsukki, well without being salty,’ he thought. “You… have a tendency to push other people to do their best. I think most good friends do.”

“You really think so?” Hinata let out a small laugh. “I thought it was just called being annoying.” Kenma flashed a small smile.

“Well, that too,” he said.

“So, how’s the Youtube planning going?” Hinata asked, sitting a bit closer to him.

“Well, I have a list of videos that I’ll work on making. Yachi offered to lend me her camera next weekend to start filming and teaching me how to edit. And after that, I guess what happens, happens.”

“It sounds like a risk on your part,” Hinata said. “You seemed hesitant when we talked about it last Christmas.”

“It is,” Kenma nodded, looking down and playing with the hem of his red hoodie. “I’ve… realized lately that it’s not that bad to take risks, provided that they are calculated. I’m not ready to be that impulsive.”

“You do what you do,” Hinata grinned.

“I’ll toast your pizza slice to that,” Kenma said back and they touched their slices of pizza together.

“There’s nothing good on TV,” Kageyama groaned. “I suggest we just watch Naruto.”

“Oooh! Good idea!” Hinata nodded.

“What are you, twelve?” Tsukishima scoffed.

“I’d… actually like to watch as well,” Kenma said.

“That’s three against one,” Hinata gloated at Tsukishima.

“Fine, but make it a good arc at least. Not one of those weird filler episodes.”

“Well, I’m already at Shippuden at the part when they try to rescue Gaara,” Kenma said.

“I guess that’s tolerable,” Tsukishima shrugged and sat down on the couch. Hinata could tell by his pose that he was more than ready to marathon the show for a good long time but decided not to say it out loud. Beside him, Kenma fiddled with his diorama project.

“Hey, Shoyo. Want to help out with making more vases?” he asked.

“Sure thing!” Hinata grinned, already knowing what shape he was going to do when he felt Tsukishima put a hand on his shoulder.

“If you make one in the shape of Gaara’s gourd I will end you,” he said.

“Alright, alright. I wasn’t even thinking it!” Hinata pouted, only to do it anyway and sneaking the tiny clay model into Kenma’s hand.

…

This was the first time Kuroo had been to a bubble-slash-boba-slash-milk tea shop. Well, one of the first time he’d been to a shop selling exclusively drinks that weren’t alcohol by himself. Between the two of them, it was usually Kenma who liked sweet drinks, especially those god-awful, artificial coloring and preservative-filled convenience store strawberry slushies. But today was a pretty rare exception because Kuroo had good news to share with a tall, salty friend who apparently liked milk tea.

“Um, can I have a…” Kuroo trailed off, looking at Tsukishima’s order on his phone. “Caramel milktea, 100-percent sugar, with less ice? And I guess your regular milktea with 0-percent sugar,” he said. “Both large,” he added because why the hell not? He was in the mood to try something new and he could find his favorite drink.

“Would you like pearls to go with both?” the employee at the counter asked. Kuroo assumed that the pearls were the weird black spheres at the bottom of the milktea drinks.

“Um yeah. Sure,” he nodded.

Everything on the menu board intimidated him so he chose the most boring flavor he could find. A few minutes later, he left the shop with his first ever milktea and what was probably Tsukishima’s one-hundredth milktea and walked to the movie theater a few blocks away. Inside, Tsukishima was behind the ticket counter again wearing his employee uniform: a plain, black polo with a gold ticket, the logo of the movie theater, embroidered on the breast pocket.

“Hello, hello my good friend. Here is the abomination drink you’ve ordered,” Kuroo greeted holding up the plastic bag with milktea in it. Tsukishima looked at him warily. “Oh come on, Tsukki. You know I’m a nice person,” he groaned.

“Why did you out of the blue just ask me what my favorite drink was and then proceed to order my favorite drink and then proceed to bring me my favorite drink?” he asked.

“Because…” Kuroo grinned and did a drumroll on the ticket counter. “A potential sponsor contacted me about sponsoring my podcast.”

“Woah,” Tsukishima blinked in surprise. “That’s great! About time actually I can’t believe no one’s sponsored you yet. What are the details? Are there any conditions you’re iffy with? When will they start?”

“Hey, slow down there,” Kuroo chuckled, feeling strangely happy and surprised that Tsukishima cared that much. ‘Actually, I keep forgetting he cares a lot,’ he remembered. “But yeah. It’s just a small-time business that sells potted succulents and other gardening supplies. The owner has apparently been my listener for a while now and decided to help out. So far, they don’t have any conditions which is pretty great.”

“Well, congratulations,” Tsukishima nodded. “So, I guess the milktea is because you were feeling celebratory.”

“Yup,” Kuroo grinned, leaning against the glass ticket counter. “Although, this is my first time trying it out.”

“You didn’t even like milk tea but you went ahead and bought one for me?” Tsukishima asked with a strange expression on his face.

“Yeah,” Kuroo shrugged. “I know Kenma loves this stuff too but I never really tried so, what better day than today?”

“Oh, I see,” Tsukishima nodded and adjusted his glasses. “Well, I guess I’ll cover your movie ticket tonight.”

“No, no, no. You don’t have to,” Kuroo shook his head.

“Relax. It’s no big deal,” Tsukishima snorted, quickly stamping a ticket before handing it to him. “Also, the movie’s starting soon so we better get in.”

“Alrighty,” Kuroo nodded, as Tsukishima stepped out of the booth. “Also, have I mentioned that its cool of your boss to let you watch the screenings? I thought that working at a movie theater meant free movies so I signed up for a job at the mall during summer break once.”

“And let me guess? No free movies?” Tsukishima smirked.

“No free movies!” Kuroo exclaimed, handing Tsukishima his milktea. “Also, mind if I try mine first before getting in? I feel like this is going to be an experience.”

“Shoot,” Tsukishima nodded. Kuroo took a straw in one hand and his milktea in the other, figuring out where to poke a hole, when Tsukishima sighed and did it for him.

“I could have done that,” he pouted.

“You’re clearly a milktea virgin,” Tsukishima rolled his eyes, handing Kuroo his milktea. Kuroo took a tentative sip of the oh-so-famous drink. The drink was creamy, thankfully not as sweet as it looked, and the pearls were a bit weird. He didn’t really like having something chewy in his drink. But other than that, it was pretty good. “So, how is it?” Tsukishima asked.

“Not that bad,” Kuroo said.

“I can’t believe you’d get one with 0-percent sugar,” Tsukishima made a face before taking a sip from his drink.

“Like you’re one to talk! The cashier had a look of fear on her face when I told her your order.”

“They always do,” Tsukishima smirked.

“Let me have a sip,” Kuroo said, and before Tsukishima could protest, he leaned forward and drank from his straw. “Oh god,” he made a face after drinking what was probably one-eight of a sip.

“It’s not that sweet.”

“It is. Tsukki, you’re an abomination,” Kuroo shook his head, finally heading into the movie theater. “I never pegged you as someone who liked sugary things.”

“Yamaguchi always makes that face whenever I make my coffee in the morning,” Tsukishima said, sitting at their usual seats. Once again, the theater was practically empty.

“I put nothing in my coffee,” Kuroo said.

“Ugh, you’re the abomination.”

“It’s more of something that came out of pure laziness. Since I’m too lazy to add cream and sugar to my coffee, I got used to drinking it black.”

“Lame origin story,” Tsukishima said.

“Whatever Tsukki,” Kuroo smiled and nudged him as the movie soon began. At this point, he was used to being movie buddies with Tsukishima, especially after their very long Sharknado marathon. After that day, Kuroo actually wanted to invite Tsukishima over to his place again but at the same time, he couldn’t figure out how. It would be weird to just say ‘Hey Tsukki? Wanna come over to my place to re-watch The Mummy?’ out of the blue. But the thing is, Kuroo was completely okay with saying that to Kenma or Bokuto. ‘Maybe it’s because we haven’t been friends that long,’ Kuroo thought. But that wasn’t it either.

The movie, ‘Alien’, was one Kuroo had watched a million times, enough for him to be able to quote some of the lines, which he unconsciously ended up doing. Much to his surprise and delight, Tsukishima quoted the same things too. The best thing that Kuroo loved about movie theaters was the fact that he was so unaware of the actual space he was in as the contents of the screen took him elsewhere. But this time, he was so aware of the fact that the theater he was in was a small one, that the chairs were quite comfortable, that there was an empty cup of milktea in his hands, and that there was almost no one inside except for him and Tsukishima.

“Ah, never gets old,” Kuroo grinned as they stepped out of the theater and recounted Ripley’s final maneuver to get rid of the alien once and for all. “I’ve always loved Ripley. My moms say that she was actually a peak lesbian icon during her time.”

“I could definitely see that,” Tsukishima smiled as he went over his rounds closing up the place while Kuroo waited in the lobby. It must have been the caffeine from the milktea, but he could feel that he was quite restless and it was a Saturday night and something about not having seen Tsukishima during the holidays made Kuroo want to do something reckless.

“Hey,” Kuroo suddenly stood up when Tsukishima was done turning the lights off in the lobby. “Want to like, drive somewhere?”

“If you’re planning to murder me, you’re not doing a good job of it,” Tsukishima said. Kuroo couldn’t help but crack a smile at the sarcasm he missed so much.

“I’m serious. Let’s drive around town. We can buy convenience store snacks and I don’t know, play music while driving through a tunnel like what American teenagers do in movies.” As soon as those words left his mouth, Kuroo could clearly hear how dumb he and his whole idea sounded and that there was no way Tsukishima would agree to any of those.

“Fine. Let’s go,” Tsukishima said.

“Wait, really?” Kuroo blinked, astounded.

“Were you not serious? You sounded serious.”

“Yeah but I didn’t think you’d agree.”

“I didn’t think I’d agree too,” Tsukishima said softly and walked ahead to the car before Kuroo could ask what he meant. But instead of dwelling too much on it, he grinned and followed behind. After stopping by the convenience store, where Kuroo figured out that Tsukishima and Kenma liked the same candy, they got into the pick-up truck and drove off into the night. It reminded Kuroo a lot of the night he first met Tsukishima in the exact same convenience store they came from.

“You know, I think the cashier earlier was the same one from that time we first met,” Tsukishima said.

“Oh, yeah?” Kuroo grinned, realizing he and Tsukishima were thinking the same thing. “I thought so too. I think he did a double-take when he saw the two of us at the counter.”

“God, I wonder how much shit convenience store employees have to go through,” Tsukishima sighed. “Especially when drunk people come in.”

“Especially when drunk people who accidentally say ‘Is being glam an ass or is the ass glam?’”

“Don’t remind me,” Tsukishima groaned. “I wasn’t at my most sober.”

“I wonder when I’ll get to see drunk Tsukki again,” Kuroo sighed wistfully. “By the way, any suggestions as to where we should go?”

“I don’t know, around the city?” Tsukishima shrugged.

“Not good enough. Too predictable.”

“I thought you wanted to go to a tunnel.”

“The nearest one is actually several miles away and I’m too broke for gas.”

“Hm,” Tsukishima hummed. “It sounds dumb but, you know that part of the city that’s near a beach?”

“Gull’s Point? I haven’t been there in ages,” Kuroo laughed. “Alright, Gull’s Point it is.” He passed Tsukishima the aux cord that he kept near the car stereo. “Here, play something good.”

“Oh, I’ll play something good,” Tsukishima snickered. Moments later, Kuroo heard the sound of piano playing and then a voice saying “The serial killer H. H. Holmes is known for the construction of the legendary ‘Murder House…’

“A serial killer podcast? Seriously?” Kuroo laughed. “And you were the one who suspected me of murdering you.”

“Hey, they’re a good guide to avoid danger,” Tsukishima said. “And besides, I’m pretty sure most of your listeners also listen to serial killer podcasts.”

“I think this is the point where I kick you out of the car and drive off.”

“I’d like to see you try, Kuroo.”

Just then, Kuroo pulled up along a graveled parking space that overlooked the beach below before switching off the engine but kept the car battery on to play the podcast. Tsukishima rolled the windows down and the sound of waves crashing entered the car. Then, they opened a box of Apollo candies and ate in silence. Kuroo knew he couldn’t feel at peace any more than this. Even if they were listening to how H. H. Holmes captured his victims using trapdoors in his house. And then, Tsukishima spoke up.

“You know how there’s this idea that people during the Stone Age were constantly killing each other?”

Kuroo raised an eyebrow, surprised at the weird bringing up of a topic, but indulged the thought. “Yeah.”

“Well, actually, according to excavated evidence, they took surprisingly good care of each other. Even those who appeared to be born with physical disabilities that prevented them from providing for others. There’s evidence that they were well-cared for throughout their lives and given proper burials,” Tsukishima said. “It’s interesting because when you think of how everything in the Stone Age was dependent on survival, it’s not really mutually exclusive from basic care or even equating human existence to whether or not they have a specific purpose.”

“That’s an eye-opener for sure,” Kuroo smiled wryly. “Is this why you study Archaeology?”

“At first it was because I thought I’d be able to see dinosaur fossils firsthand,” Tsukishima said. “But now, I guess I’m realizing there’s a lot more to learn to it. Also, it made me realize all the times I could have called out my high school History teacher for all their wrong information.”

“And now you use it to contradict people in Flat Earther groups,” Kuroo snickered.

“Hah. That’s way different. At least it is widely instructed that the Earth isn’t flat. Unlike actual historical facts that ancient civilizations weren’t as dumb as media makes us think they are.”

“Well, here’s a fact that will blow your mind,” Kuroo grinned. “You know how films are usually shot at twenty-four frames per second, right?”

“Yeah.”

“That means at several points in-between frames, the theater is dark. Now, when you calculate how much time between frames a theater is dark and add it all up, it’s actually longer compared to the length of time we actually see the frames.”

“Woah… so….”

“Most of the time we spend watching a movie is sitting in the darkness. And yet, we don’t even realize it,” Kuroo grinned at the surprised expression on Tsukishima’s face.

“Wow, thanks a lot. Now I won’t stop thinking of that when I go to a movie theater,” he said.

“It’s like what you said earlier. So much of how we think is dominated by something else, and sometimes we don’t even realize that we’re sitting in a dark room when a really cool movie is playing,” Kuroo said. “Actually, when you think about it, maybe some of the things those Flat Earthers are saying are kinda true.”

“Like what? That the Earth is flatter than we think?” Tsukishima snorted.

“Well, last year I was just a faceless guy with a devilishly charming voice and an engaging podcast,” Kuroo smirked. “And now we’re parked near a beach at two am. So maybe, with how interconnected things are, maybe the Earth just feels flatter.”

Tsukishima fell silent and looked to the beach in front of him. “That still doesn’t make the Flat Earthers any smarter.” Kuroo burst out laughing. “What?” Tsukishima frowned.

“Never change, Tsukki. I mean it,” Kuroo grinned. “Now, shall we head home?”

“I think it’s about time,” Tsukishima smiled and rolled the windows back up. Half an hour later, they were parked in front of Tsukishima’s apartment. All of a sudden, Kuroo found it hard to believe that they had just visited the beach but for the life of him, he wasn’t going to let that memory go. “Thanks, by the way,” Tsukishima said.

“You don’t have to thank me every time I drop you off,” Kuroo said.

“No, I mean for like the drive and all. It was kind of fun, actually.”

“We could do it again sometime.”

“It’s different from impulsively doing it.”

“What makes you think I can’t catch you by surprise?” Kuroo raised an eyebrow. Tsukishima chuckled and shook his head.

“You’re right.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door. “I’m counting on you then.”

“Sure. Good night Tsukki,” Kuroo waved and again, waited for Tsukishima to enter his apartment building and go up the stairs before leaving. He ended up driving home with a smile on his face and the feeling of butterflies in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so the last part was a mess but i just have this really clear picture of tsukishima being a fan of 100% sugar milktea (it's called milktea where i'm from and boba sounds weird) since he likes sweet things and kuroo judging him. but anyway, i hope you guys like this chapter!


	10. pulls of gravity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by: Silly String

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> helloo!!! i wanted to release this chapter a little earlier because,,, today is my birthday!! so i guess it's a little birthday gift from me to you guys hehe and i hope you enjoy! i really had a great time writing this chapter, esp after the really sweet comments from the previous one.

Just like how everyone came in support of Bokuto and Kuroo during the Tokyo’s Best Diner competition rounds, they all naturally came together to support Hinata and Kageyama at Nationals. Naturally, Bokuto and Kuroo went all out by dressing in the team colors, painting their faces the same colors, and bringing large posters. Yamaguchi and Yachi participated in the cheering but on a smaller scale by bringing matching pom-poms. Lastly, Kenma and his fellow low-energy friends Tsukishima and Akaashi were actually sitting down and eating sandwiches from the convenience store.

“Let’s go Senshu!!” Bokuto and Kuroo yelled in unison as the volleyball team lined up. Kenma saw Hinata and Kageyama give a little wave at them while their teammates looked up in confusion at who was cheering.

“Haha, why are they looking at us weirdly? Haven’t they ever seen a cheering squad before?” Bokuto asked. Kenma blinked at the mess of red and gray facepaint on his face.

“That’s the thing. Our volleyball team is so half-assed that no one cheers for it,” Tsukishima deadpanned.

“Well, it’s been like that since my time pretty much,” Kuroo shrugged.

“Then we just have to cheer louder!” Bokuto exclaimed. “LET’S GO SENSHU LET’S GO!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, attracting the attention of not only the volleyball players but pretty much everyone in the audience. Kenma and Tsukishima shrank into their hoodies while glancing at Akaashi.

“He has the personality of a golden retriever and I love him for it,” they said.

A few minutes later, the game started with the opposing team serving first. Hinata and Kageyama were in front and their libero almost flubbed the receive but managed to get the ball up in the air. Kenma found himself on the edge of his seat. He blinked once and Hinata had spiked the ball straight into the opposing team’s court.

“Whoa! That was so fast! Did anyone even see Kageyama set the ball?” Bokuto exclaimed, pointing frantically at the game. Beside him, Yamaguchi was unsurprised.

“They’ve always played like that since high school,” he chuckled. “Actually, they’re much faster now.”

“That’s amazing!” Yachi grinned. “They’re going to win this for sure.”

“Well, just barely maybe,” Tsukishima muttered.

“What do you mean?”

Without speaking, Tsukishima pointed to a volleyball player from Senshu who served the ball into the net. “The rest of their team members aren’t as good, to be honest. But at the same time, you could tell that they’re not as invested in the game as Hinata and Kageyama are.”

“How could you tell?” Kuroo asked.

“Because Tsukki was like that in his first year,” Yamaguchi grinned. Kenma didn’t say anything but kept watching as Hinata sighed but shrugged the lost point off. Throughout the rest of the game, Kenma noticed more and more that Hinata and Kageyama were holding up most of the team. ‘Well, they will be potentially scouted,’ he remembered, but watching them play showed that it might not totally be the case. Especially after he watched Hinata run off-court to receive a ball before crashing into a wall.

“Is… Shouyou okay?” Kenma winced as he watched Hinata shake off the hit while his coach berated him.

“It doesn’t look like he has any injuries or anything but he sure seems frustrated at his coach,” Akaashi observed. Kageyama patted Hinata’s back sympathetically as he positioned himself back in the court. Right before the referee blew the whistle, Hinata looked up at the audience and caught Kenma’s eye. Without even thinking, Kenma waved at him and watched as Hinata smiled back.

Thanks to some miracle, Senshu was able to win the match by the skin of their teeth and advance into the next round. Kageyama and Hinata looked beyond relieved as they took their break and joined the rest of their friends at the audience seats.

“Congratulations you guys! You did great!” Yachi cheered, hugging both Kageyama and Hinata.

“I’d expect nothing less from my kids,” Bokuto grinned.

“We have kids now?” Akaashi said under their breath making Kenma suppress a laugh.

“Thanks. I’m so glad you all came,” Kageyama grinned at all of them.

“Do you think we’ve caught a scout’s attention?” Hinata asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Despite the fact that they looked like they put their all in playing, Hinata and Kageyama didn’t look the least bit tired. ‘I feel exhausted just watching,’ Kenma thought.

“Relax. You guys performed really well. Anyone would be able to see that,” Yamaguchi said.

“I got you guys snacks,” Akaashi added, passing out sandwiches as Kageyama and Hinata sat down in the row of seats behind them.

“Thanks!” Hinata grinned. “Kenma! How did you like our playing?”

“It was really exciting to watch, Shouyo,” Kenma turned around, smiling at him. “Actually, I took a few videos on my phone if you’d like to see,” he said, holding up his phone.

“Cool!” Hinata leaned forward, watching the video of one of their quicks. Kageyama leaned forward as well to observe.

“It was too fast for my eye to catch so I decided to take a video and play a slow-mo of it.”

“Woah!! I look really awesome here!” Hinata exclaimed.

“My toss was off by a few centimeters,” Kageyama grumbled.

“You’re such a perfectionist,” Hinata elbowed him in the ribs.

“I’ve never seen anyone play quite like you two. I’m not that good of a judge when it comes to volleyball but I think you two will get noticed for sure,” Kenma said encouragingly.

“Even with your teammates,” Tsukishim butted in.

“Yeaaahh but,” Hinata pouted. “The whole point of volleyball is to stay in court for as long as you can! Being scouted is great and all but I just love being on-court and having people watch when I play and the thrill of helping the ball connect.”

“You’re not going to mention the air salonpas smell?” Kageyama smirked.

“Shut up! I was in high school!” Hinata groused.

“So was I and that was weird.”

“Hinata had a thing for the smell of air salonpas back then,” Tsukishima explained as Hinata and Kageyama reverted to their usual bickering. A good half-hour later, they were called back to their team as the next match began. The opposing team this time though, looked pretty solid compared to the previous one Senshu faced. Kenma could see the unease on Hinata’s face and the determination in it as the match began. Hinata and Kageyama got in a good number of quicks, receives, and once, ten points in thanks to Kageyama’s service aces alone. It was just enough for them to lose by one point to the opposing team.

“I can’t believe it! Their libero was right there! He could have easily stretched out his arm and received that ball!” Kuroo exclaimed as the teams exchanged handshakes.

“They’re most probably aware of that too,” Yamaguchi said.

“Poor Hinata and Kageyama,” Yachi sighed.

Kenma rehearsed all the nice things he knew he could say to Hinata and Kageyama before meeting them in the lobby, only to find them chatting with two other boys that they seemed to be friends with. “Ah! You guys!” Hinata waved when he saw them. “This is Tanaka and Noya, from our high school volleyball team.”

“Tsukki! Long time no see, brother-in-law,” the guy with a shaved head grinned.

“We saw each other three weeks ago,” Tsukishima deadpanned.

“That’s a long time!”

“Not long enough,” he muttered.

“Um, sorry about the loss Shouyo. But I’m sure you and Kageyama did really well,” Kenma told Hinata. Up close, he could see some redness at the edges of Hinata’s eyes.

“Ah, well,” he sighed. “What can you do?”

“I had to hold him back from getting mad at our teammates and coach’s ‘pep talk,’” Kageyama said.

“I had to hold you back too!” Hinata exclaimed.

“How was your game?” Yamaguchi asked.

“We’re advancing to the next round, no problem!” the shorter guy, with bleached bangs, who was apparently called Noya said.

“Lucky,” Hinata groaned.

“Anyway, we were just inviting them to a party at Noya’s aunt’s house again,” Tanaka grinned. “You guys are all invited too!”

“W-we are?” Kuroo stammered.

“But you don’t even know us,” Akaashi said.

“These guys have told us a lot about you guys and any friend of our juniors is a friend of ours. Also, I like how you guys cheered for them,” Noya grinned up at Bokuto and Kuroo.

“So, we’ll see you guys at our place? Party starts at eight by the way and bring any alcohol and food you can,” Tanaka flashed a thumbs-up before leaving with Noya.

“Ahh! I can’t believe I’ve been invited to a party! It’s my first time coming to one!” Bokuto practically squealed.

“It’s my first time too,” Akaashi smiled wistfully.

“Really? I thought you’d be pretty popular,” Kenma said.

“As a leftist and a person of indescribable gender, I have not been popular among my coursemates in Business classes,” Akaashi said.

“Fair enough,” Kenma shrugged.

“You’re coming too, right Kenma?” Hinata grinned.

“It’s going to be my first party and I guess that makes me pretty nervous…”

“Don’t worry we’ll look out for you,” Kageyama said.

“Like you looked out for Yachi?” Yamaguchi deadpanned.

“We’re sorry! We’re sorry!” Hinata bowed.

“It’s alright,” Yachi laughed.

“Anyway, Noya’s aunt’s house is really big so you can just stay in one of the rooms if you need a break,” Tsukishima told Kenma.

“Sounds good to me,” he nodded.

…

Washing all the face paint he and Kuroo slathered on their faces took a good two hours, most of which was spent googling tips on how to get face paint off. But after whipping up a batch of fried chicken that Bokuto hoped was enough to feed people at a party, both of them went their separate ways with Kuroo going to Kenma’s place and Bokuto going to Akaashi.

“Bokuto-san,” Akaashi greeted at the doorway. They smiled and gently touched Bokuto’s cheek. “Glad you were able to get all that face paint off.”

“Trust me, it was a very long process that I’m not sure I want to do again,” Bokuto sighed as he walked into their apartment. He’s been over a couple times ever since he and Akaashi got together, even cooking and having dinner with their dad who was pretty cool with the whole situation. Bokuto had yet to introduce Akaashi to his family but for now, he was happy with the moments where he had his partner all to himself.

“I’ll just do my make-up real quick and change into something,” Akaashi said leading him to their bedroom.

“Take your time,” Bokuto flopped on Akaashi’s bed and browsed the bookshelf nearby for something to read. He didn’t know why, but there was something charming about Akaashi’s bookshelf: an assortment of business textbooks, the complete volumes of Ouran High School Host Club, a few classic novels that he recognized from having read them in high school, and a whole bunch of fashion magazine. Bokuto plucked a random fashion magazine from the shelf and started flipping through the pages. He didn’t have the same eye for color, technique, and shape that Akaashi had but he was confident that he could appreciate beautiful-looking things.

‘Speaking of beautiful-looking,’ Bokuto turned his head to the side to watch Akaashi putting on make-up at their vanity. They had just finished brushing a shimmery, teal shade over their eyelids and picked up something in a long, black tube.

“I can feel you staring at me, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi suddenly said.

“Hah, sorry. I couldn’t help it,” Bokuto laughed. “You look really pretty, Akaashi.”

“Thank you, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi smiled. “Also I’ll be doing my eyeliner and this takes the utmost concentration so…”

“Say no more. You won’t here a peep from me,” Bokuto said. Akaashi chuckled and leaned closer to the mirror. Bokuto kept watching them with his arm propping his head on the bed, even when drawing their eyeliner took Akaashi a good fifteen minutes of softly cursing under their breath, rushing to pick up another Q-tip, and making the cutest faces with their mouth open in front of the mirror.

“Ugh, finally,” they sighed, turning around to look at Bokuto. “Does it look even?”

“Um… yes?” Bokuto blinked.

“Okay, good enough,” Akaashi chuckled. “Thanks for, you know, sticking around by the way even if this is really boring.”

“It’s not boring! I’ve always wanted to see how you do your make-up,” Bokuto bolted upright.

“Really?” Akaashi looked genuinely surprised. “I mean, you don’t have to pretend or anything—”

“Do you really think I’m the type of person to pretend I’m into something?” Bokuto raised his eyebrows. Akaashi flashed a wry smile.

“I guess not.”

“Also, the faces you make in the mirror are cute.”

“Okay, that I have a hard time believing.”

“It’s true!” Bokuto grinned.

“Well, you’re going to be seeing more of them because I’m putting on my mascara next,” Akaashi said, turning back to the mirror.

“Nice!”

Ten minutes later, Akaashi was done getting ready and they headed off to the party that was a bus ride away. Bokuto let Akaashi ‘vamp up his wardrobe’ a bit by tossing some product in his hair, unbuttoning the top two buttons of his shirt, and rolling up his sleeves. “That’s a nice jacket by the way,” Akaashi complimented as they walked into the neighborhood where the party was taking place.

“Thanks! I thought about getting myself some nicer clothes this year,” Bokuto grinned, obviously proud of himself. “I got it from an online thrift shop for clothes too! Hehe, down with the fast-fashion industry, am I right?”

Akaashi quickly turned to him with a fierce look in their eyes and without warning, pulled Bokuto close to place a searing kiss on his lips. It left Bokuto’s head spinning with a good amount of Akaashi’s lipgloss on his lips. “Um, wow?” he said.

“I don’t know why but I just found that really hot,” Akaashi cleared their throat. Bokuto smirked and pulled Akaashi close to kiss them again. After a good long moment, they pulled apart for air. Akaashi’s hands were tangled up in Bokuto’s hair.

“Um, we should probably get going to the party,” they said.

“Yeah the chicken’s getting cold,” Bokuto chuckled. Akaashi smiled, looping their arm around his as they continued their walk until they came upon a large house with what sounded like someone singing into a karaoke machine streaming from it.

“Bokuto-senpai!”

“Hey, Hinata! Kageyama!” Bokuto waved as his two favorite juniors walked up to him, each carrying at least two boxes of pizza.

“Where are the others?” Akaashi asked.

“Tsukishima and Yamaguchi are arriving with Yachi,” Kageyama said as they opened the door to the house. Inside, the bald guy from earlier named Tanaka was singing-slash-yelling the lyrics to ‘Mr. Brightside’ on a karaoke mic.

“Karaoke!” Bokuto exclaimed with excitement. “I want to join in too! Sing something with me Akaashi!”

“After dinner and a drink or two,” Akaashi laughed.

“Noya should be in the kitchen already. He makes the best cocktails,” Hinata said, leading them to the kitchen where Kenma and Kuroo already were.

“Bro!”

“Bro!” Bokuto grinned and hugged Kuroo as if they hadn’t just seen each other earlier.

“Kenma! You guys are here early,” Hinata grinned, setting the pizzas down on the table amongst the other food that was already there. Bokuto added the box of fried chicken, right beside the batch that Kuroo already brought.

“Hey! You’re the one who makes the really good chicken,” Noya, the guy from earlier, grinned. He was standing beside a blender and a couple of other cocktail ingredients along a bar.

“I’m glad you like it,” Bokuto thanked.

“You get a custom-made cocktail from me, that’s for sure,” Noya winked.

“He’s really good by the way. He made one for me too,” Kuroo whispered.

“Let me guess. You’re a fruity cocktail kind of guy? But you like a bit of extra punch so I’m thinking, tequila?”

“He got it! That’s exactly what I was thinking of,” Bokuto exclaimed.

“I got you,” Noya grinned, tossing some fruit juice and syrup into the blender with a good dash of tequila before giving it a few blitzes and serving it in a cup. Bokuto sipped and it was everything he wanted in a cocktail. He flashed a thumbs-up at the bartender.

“How about me?” Akaashi asked.

“I know just the thing.” Noya grabbed a cocktail shaker, tossed in some ice, poured a generous amount of root beer, and a few shots of rum. After a few good shakes, he poured it into another cup and served it to Akaashi.

“How is it?” Bokuto asked after his partner took a sip.

“Perfect,” Akaashi nodded.

“Noya really is amazing,” Hinata said.

“Someday when I own my own bar, you guys better come visit,” Noya said, pointing at all of them.

“Will we get a discount?” Kageyama piped up.

“Depends on how successful it is. But most likely, yes,” he said confidently.

“Ah, we’re the last to arrive,” Yamaguchi said, appearing in the kitchen beside Tsukishima and Yachi.

“You didn’t miss much, except for Noya making me the perfect cocktail,” Bokuto said.

“He made one for me too last time,” Yachi smiled. “It was the first drink I’ve ever tried and it was delicious.”

“Yachi! They have peach soju here again,” Kageyama called out from where the refrigerator was on the other side of the kitchen.

“J-just one bottle please!” Yachi yelped.

“Don’t worry. I’ll still bring you home if you pass out,” Yamaguchi smiled at her.

“Hey, Kuroo. Wanna try out the karaoke?” Bokuto asked. Kuroo’s grin matched his.

“You’ve read my mind,” he said, clinking his cup against Bokuto’s. The night was young and Bokuto was more than ready sing more than a few songs and down more than a few drinks.

…

“Is this, the fourth time they’ve sang All-Star?” Tsukishima scowled as the sound of Kuroo singing the intro of the song blasted into the bedroom.

“The fifth time, actually,” Kenma said, taking another sip from his can of Dr. Pepper.

“It could be worse?” Yamaguchi said. The three of them and Yachi were in Noya’s aunt’s bedroom, the same place where Yamaguchi found Yachi passed out, watching TV. None of them were good with crowds, which was why it was a blessing to be in a party that was as big as Noya’s aunt’s house. They had flipped through the television looking for something interesting to watch that didn’t require so much brain power to process and ended up on a re-run of the live-action Dragonball movie.

“This is an insult to the anime and I’ve never even watched the anime,” Kenma said.

“I know. They didn’t even bother to have an Asian cast,” Yachi added.

“And yet, I can’t turn away,” Tsukishima said.

“Me neither,” Yamaguchi nodded. On-screen, white Goku did what white Goku equivalent of a ‘kamehamaha’ was which was basically a blue-colored, CGI hand fart and everyone in the room erupted laughing. Even Kenma was chuckling.

“Why do our ventures to parties end up with us watching movies with bad CGI?” Tsukishima turned to Yamaguchi.

“Akiteru’s to blame for all of this,” Yamaguchi said.

“I blame everything on Akiteru wholeheartedly.”

“Hey, listen,” Yamaguchi moved closer to him and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Do you mind if Yachi and I head out after the movie? I kind of promised Yachi we’d go stargazing in the park tonight.”

“You two are so wholesome I’m gonna throw up also um, why are you asking for my permission?” Tsukishima frowned.

“Because I don’t want to be the kind of friend that ditches their friend all the time once they have a girlfriend.”

“Wow, I’m going to cry.”

“Shut up, Tsukki.”

“Also, you’d never be that kind of friend. Kenma and I can finally talk about wood petrification and cultural materialism when you’re gone.”

“Ugh, nerds,” Yamaguchi rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless at the reassurance he received from his friend. In front of him, Yachi turned around and smiled. She had lollipop-shaped clips on her bangs and matching earrings tonight. It turns out, she had a box of clips and earrings amongst the other boxes in her desk. She showed it to him earlier when he came over to pick her up and something about the box of clips made Yamaguchi’s heart melt.

Just as the movie was about to end, Hinata and Kageyama burst in through the door carrying spray-cans full of Silly String and looking quite tipsy. “Who’s ready to get this party started?!” Hinata yelled, spraying everyone inside with silly string.

“Fuck! Where did you guys get that?!” Tsukishima yelled, holding up a pillow to block the onslaught of silly string. Kenma calmly kept sipping his Dr. Pepper while Yamaguchi attempted to cover Yachi, only to find that Kageyama and Hinata were only spraying Tsukishima.

“Sorry Tsukki! Let’s get out of here, Yachi!” Yamaguchi said, grabbing Yachi’s hand and dashing for the door.

“Do you think Tsukishima will be okay?” Yachi asked as they slowed to a stop in the hallway.

“Oh no, definitely not,” Yamaguchi shook his head. “So, stargazing?”

“Sure thing,” Yachi giggled. They passed by the kitchen for another bottle of peach soju each and the living room where Kuroo and Bokuto were busy playing beer pong with Akaashi refereeing, until they reached the door and stepped out into the cool night air. Yamaguchi inhaled a lungful.

“Spring sure is coming soon,” he said.

“I know. I love winter and all but there’s just something about spring that makes you miss it when the season ends,” Yachi said and turned to him. “Shall we go?”

“Let’s,” Yamaguchi nodded, taking her hand in his. The two of them walked in silence for a few minutes until they reached the park in the middle of the neighborhood that was well-lit enough for them to see where they were going but bright enough to make it feel as if it was no longer night.

“Oooh it’s a playground!” Yachi giggled as she reached the park, pulling ahead of Yamaguchi to sit on one of the swings. “Man, I miss playgrounds,” she sighed, kicking her feet back as she started swinging. Yamaguchi smiled and sat on the one next to her, only the seats were too low to the ground and his knees ended up reaching his chest.

“Hmm, now I see why I haven’t been to a playground in a while,” he chuckled.

“Poor you,” Yachi smiled sympathetically as she continued to swing higher. “I stopped growing in my last year of middle school.”

“Really? I was a pretty small kid but I shot up in my last year of middle school,” he said. “I was taller than everyone, except Tsukki of course.”

“Is that so?” Yachi slowed to a stop, digging her shoes into the ground. “Come on. Let’s check out the jungle gym so you can enjoy something.”

“Aw nice! I love the jungle gym,” Yamaguchi grinned, following Yachi to the jungle gym that was in the middle of the playground. He let Yachi climb up first, watching out in case she slipped, before hauling himself up to the top, sitting on one of the bars while wedging his feet in to stop himself from falling. Yachi smoothed her skirt out and held onto the bars beside her.

“There sure are a lot of stars out here, especially for a city like Tokyo with so much light pollution,” Yamaguchi said, looking up at the sky.

“Right? There are so much more stars in Miyagi. But I think tonight is a special case.” Yachi sighed and leaned forward, cupping her chin with her hands. “Although, I wish I knew how to spot constellations. All I know are the Big Dipper and probably the three stars on Orion’s Belt.”

“Well, I did have a bit of a constellation phase in middle school,” Yamaguchi said sheepishly.

“Really? Can you spot some right now?”

“Well,” Yamaguchi pointed at one of the clumps of stars. “That ones Hydra, you could tell because of the four stars that form its head and the rest of the stars forming its long body. And then Pegasus, over there, which is formed by a whole lot of stars.”

“That’s impressive. All I really see are clumps of stars,” Yachi said.

“I feel like when constellations were invented it was just one Greek guy pointing out a bunch of stars that looked like Pegasus and the rest of the people were too busy dying of the plague to contradict him.” Yachi laughed, bright and loud, and Yamaguchi felt as if he was falling in love with her all over again.

“That’s probably what happened.”

“Oh, by the way, I kind of wanted to talk to you about something,” Yamaguchi began, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

“What is it?” Yachi cocked her head. Yamaguchi sucked in a deep breath.

“Okay so I know this is going to be quite far-off with little to no chance of happening and I don’t know why I’m even worrying about this when we’ve only been together for a few weeks but I’ve always wanted to try studying abroad for Masters and I know that’s super far off but I tend to jump ahead to things quickly but I was wondering that in the event that it happened and we’re still together at that time, would you be okay if I were to study abroad and that we continue our relationship over long distance?” he said quickly, feeling himself turn blue from breathing very little. He looked up at Yachi to find a blank expression on her face.

“Oh god, that sounded really dumb and a lot I shouldn’t have brought this up now,” he groaned.

“Ah, no! I was just processing everything,” Yachi quickly said. “But I don’t think it’s dumb for you to bring it up?”

“Really?”

“Really,” Yachi nodded. “I, kind of figured we’d be together for quite a long time actually. And I know this is both of our first relationship and all but I really want it to last a long time. So, to answer your question, I’d be more than alright to have a long-distance relationship when you take your Masters. Note that I’m saying ‘when’ not ‘if,’” she added with a smile.

“You… believe in me too much,” Yamaguchi said shyly.

“I believe in you as much as I know you’d believe in me,” Yachi said softly, lifting a hand to touch his cheek. “And I know that I’m very insecure but, those are one of the few things that I’m sure about.”

Yamaguchi suddenly knew what the English romance novels he read meant by the phrase ‘my heart soared’. He had never kissed anyone in his life, he didn’t even know how to begin when it came to initiating a kiss, but everything about this moment felt right. Yachi leaned in closer and Yamaguchi met her halfway. Her lips were soft and tasted like the cherry lipbalm he saw her apply earlier and a hint of peach soju. When they parted, Yachi stretched her arm out to lean backwards on, only for her to almost fall in-between the bars.

“Ah!”

“I’ve got you! I’ve got you!” Yamaguchi reacted quickly, wrapping an arm around her waist as she righted herself.

“Thanks…” she said shakily. “I almost forgot we were sitting on a jungle gym.”

“Um, lost in the moment I guess?” Yamaguchi laughed nervously.

“That’s one way to remember our first kiss,” Yachi laughed along. “Do you wanna go back to the party? Hopefully to find someplace better to sit?”

“Gladly,” Yamaguchi nodded, holding her hand to make sure she got down the jungle gym safely before he did. The two of them retraced their steps back to the house hand in hand, sneaking a couple more kisses before they rejoined the party.

…

After Yamaguchi abandoned him to the mercy of Kageyama, Hinata, and four cans of Silly String, Tsukishima had no choice but to wait for the opportune moment which was either for the Silly String to run out or for Hinata and Kageyama to lose their balance, therefore allowing Tsukishima to steal the spray cans from them. It was the latter that happened, but at the expense of him being doused in a good amount of multi-colored, plastic string.

“Ah! Tsukki! Mercy!” Hinata cried as Tsukishima mercilessly covered him in Silly String. Kageyama was too tipsy to help his friend out and ended up stretching on the bed.

“Sorry, room spinning,” he murmured. Luckily for Hinata, the Silly String cans ran out. Tsukishima heard the sound of a camera shutter and looked up to find that Kenma had snapped a picture of both of them.

“You guys look colorful,” he said.

“Very funny, Kenma. Where did you guys even get this?” Tsukishima asked, trying to remove the Silly String wrapped around his arm.

“Noya snuck them to us. It’s anarchy downstairs,” Kageyama said. As if on cue, a scream was heard throughout the mansion.

“Good thing I’m here,” Kenma said, sitting on the bed beside where Hinata was, and curling his knees up. Like Tsukishima, Hinata was trying to rid himself of the String but he was tugging on it forcefully, only to get wrapped up even more. There was a slight smile on Kenma’s face as he helped pluck out some string around Hinata’s face.

“If you guys brought Silly String, you could have easily brought up more alcohol,” Tsukishima scoffed.

“We did!” Hinata protested, reaching into his pocket to pull out an old-fashioned flask that was most likely nabbed from the bar. Tsukishima plucked it from his hands and took a swig, only to find out that it was blueberry soju. ‘This is Kageyama’s, isn’t it?’ he thought, passing the flask to Kageyama who took a very long drink before passing it to Hinata, who did the same, before passing it to Kenma.

“You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to,” Tsukishima said. He had guessed from the copious amounts of Dr. Pepper Kenma had consumed so far that he wasn’t really into drinking.

“Does it, like, burn?” Kenma asked, sniffing the contents of the flask curiously.

“Not really. It’s a very clean taste but with the very delicious hint of blueberry,” Kageyama said.

“I’ve never heard you talk about anything so eloquently,” Tsukishima snickered and Kageyama kicked his shin.

“It’s pretty good Kenma!” Hinata grinned up at him. Kenma looked from Hinata to the flask and took a tentative sip.

“Hmm, not bad,” he said, passing it back to Tsukishima. He didn’t have much issue with blueberry soju but he kind of wanted something harder for the night. ‘I could just head downstairs,’ Tsukishima thought, but what troubled him most about going down wasn’t really the Silly String Anarchy but the chance of running into a certain someone with messy black hair, wearing a cherry-red button up t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up and tight, black jeans.

“So, is this the part of the night where we talk about our feelings?” Hinata said.

“No,” everyone else chorused.

“Mean. Yamaguchi and Yachi would if they were here.” Hinata sat up and looked around. “Where are they by the way?”

“Yamaguchi said they’d walk around the neighborhood,” Tsukishima said.

“Aw, they’re so cute,” Hinata gushed. “I didn’t think any of us would actually get together.” Tsukishima found himself snorting at this because it was so like Hinata to not notice how lovesick Yamaguchi had been over Yachi. Then again, he didn’t notice that Kuroo was into Bokuto but that Bokuto and Akaashi liked each other.

“What are you, jealous?” Kageyama said.

“N-no!” Hinata stammered. “I just want someone to cuddle and play Pokemon Go with.”

“You can do that with a friend,” Kageyama shrugged.

“Ew, I’m not cuddling you.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Kageyama rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying that as an aro-ace I—”

“You’re aro-ace?!” Tsukishima and Hinata chorused. Kageyama sat up.

“Wasn’t it… obvious?” he asked, genuinely confused.

“Well, it’s pretty clear you’ve never liked someone in that way but I didn’t want to assume,” Tsukishima shrugged, realizing that it wasn’t actually that surprising.

“I can’t believe you never told me!” Hinata said. “I’m your _friend_!”

“Okay, it’s not like I thought you would hate me for it,” Kageyama calmed him down. “It’s just, we’re close enough and I knew you would accept it anyway. Therefore, not a big deal for me to say.” Kenma, who had been quiet for some time, finally spoke up.

“Well, I made a bit of a guess… as a fellow ace,” he said, holding up a peace sign. Kageyama nodded at him with a small smile on his face.

“Cool. If it’s okay with you, when did you know?”

“It’s a funny story actually,” Kenma said with a small smile on his face. “After dinner, my parents sat me down and my mom said something along the lines of ‘I think it’s time we have that talk, Kenma. You know, about that thing that boys think about a lot at your age.’ She looked at me, expecting an answer, and I said ‘League of Legends?’”

Everyone burst out laughing at the story and the smile on Kenma’s face grew just a bit more. “Well for me, I guess I’ve had nothing on my mind really except volleyball,” Kageyama said.

“And Tsukishima’s head is just full of dinosaurs,” Hinata snickered.

“Hey, I don’t think of just dinosaurs,” Tsukishima protested, before realizing the implication of what he said at that specific moment.

“Oho? So, there are other things on your mind,” Hinata grinned. Before Tsukishima could say anything, Kenma piped up.

“Like horror movies.” Which was true, except when Tsukishima saw the look on Kenma’s face, he could tell that he meant a certain someone attributed to horror movies. Tsukishima debated whether he would be safer up in the bedroom where they’d no doubt try to get something out of him or be downstairs and take his chances with running into the very person causing this problem in the first place. He decided on the latter.

“Whatever, I’m way too sober for a heart-to-heart,” he said standing up and heading for the door.

“Come on Tsukki!” Hinata called out after him, but none of them chased after and Tsukishima was left wandering down to the living room of the mansion which was practically covered with Silly String. ‘They weren’t joking when they said there was a war out here,’ Tsukishima thought as he walked past groups of people who were either passed out or still drinking, all the way to the kitchen, which was surprisingly untouched. He browsed through the table, pocketing a few more Frosted Strawberry Poptarts, and poured himself a generous cup full of vodka, ice, and lime soda. Just as he took a sip of his half-assed cocktail, the very recognizable voice of the someone he was trying to avoid chimed in.

“Tsukki? Is that you?”

…

He was covered from head to toe in Silly String, actually everyone in the house was, but Kuroo could recognize that tall blonde anywhere.

“Hi Kuroo,” he replied, proceeding to drink from his cup before turning around to face him. A look of surprise registered on the part of his face that Kuroo could still see. “So, you too huh?”

“The moment Noya brought out the cans of Silly String and yelled ‘Free for all’, it was war,” Kuroo said dramatically. “Friend turned against friend, brother against brother. The only thing I could trust were the two cans of Silly String in my hands and my own wits.”

“You have wits,” Tsukishima snorted.

“I sprayed a good amount of people,” Kuroo argued. “Wait that sounds wrong.”

“It does.”

“Anyway, the war has ended but the wounds are still here. Bokuto turned against me to protect Akaashi and then Akaashi turned on him so, pretty wild.”

“Well, same here. I was ditched by Yamaguchi and Yachi when Hinata and Kageyama came into the room.”

“Ah, the plight of us bachelors,” Kuroo sighed, taking a beer from the fridge.

“Well, I hope you get your revenge, I guess. I’ll try to figure out a way to get this shit off me,” Tsukishima said, walking away.

“Wait, I can help. We can get them off each other,” Kuroo followed.

“I can handle myself, thanks.”

“Come on, please?” Kuroo pouted. “I don’t really have anyone to talk to.” At this Tsukishima stopped, looked him in the eye, and sighed. Kuroo grinned and put an arm around his shoulder. “That’s a ‘yes’ then? I know a cool place.”

Earlier that evening, Kuroo had scouted every inch of the mansion out of curiosity and came across a balcony that had a few deck chairs on it. He brought Tsukishima there before proceeding to help pull the Silly String off him. Once they were all pretty much Silly String-free, Kuroo reclined on one of the chairs with his beer slowly warming in his hand.

“So.”

“So.”

“How’s the, uh, sponsorship thing going?” Tsukishima asked.

“Well, they sent me a bunch of their products so if you would like a selection of hand trowels, rakes, and hoes, you know who to contact.”

“Hmm, I’ll see about those trowels.”

“Archaeology nerd,” Kuroo snickered. Tsukishima shot him a look. “What? It’s cute! Not like a belittling kind of cute but an endearing kind of cute.”

“You’re weird for saying archaeology is endearing, you know?” Tsukishima raised an eyebrow.

“Right you are,” Kuroo winked, leaning back in his chair. Tsukishima was quiet, more quiet than usual when they were around each other. In fact, he didn’t even seem to be drinking, just holding the bright red cup in front of his lips while staring off into space. Kuroo took the opportunity to just look at him right now. He was wearing a long coat that Kuroo had never seen before, except that night when they first met, and a black turtleneck under it with jeans. Really hipster-looking, actually, but it suited Tsukishima. Now that Kuroo thought about it, he kind of hoped to hang out with him during the party but barely had the chance to say ‘hello’ before Tsukishima disappeared to watch TV upstairs. Actually, part of Kuroo kind of wanted to Tsukishima to be impressed with his clothing choice, which didn’t involve glam pants, high heels or any of his weird shirts, for the night. It’s not like he wanted to overly impress Tsukishima, he never felt the need to, but he did like getting noticed every now and then for something he did intentionally. Even something like ‘you clean up pretty well’ would be more than welcome.

‘Is he, avoiding me?’ Kuroo found himself wondering as he unconsciously let out a sigh. At that, Tsukishima turned to him before wordlessly taking something from one of his coat pockets and handing it to Kuroo. It was a packet of Poptarts.

“You seemed hungry,” Tsukishima said. Kuroo was not hungry, but he accepted it nonetheless.

“Um, thanks,” he cleared his throat, opening the packet. He never liked Poptarts, especially the kind Tsukishima gave him which was filled with strawberry jam and frosted with some unholy abomination of sugar. It was chokingly sweet but it made Kuroo smile, remembering that time he and Tsukishima drank milktea in a movie theater.

“There’s more where that came from,” Tsukishima grinned digging into his pocket and pulling out even more Poptarts.

“Is that—Is that why you’re wearing that coat?”

“Yeah,” Tsukishima nodded, opening a pack and stuffing a Poptart into his mouth.

“Wow. And here I thought you were secretly very fashionable. I was about to compliment you on your choice of clothes and all!’ Kuroo exclaimed.

“You were about to compliment me?” Tsukishima asked, looking genuinely surprised. Kuroo all of a sudden felt a bit embarrassed.

“I mean, yeah. You look… good,” he stammered. Tsukishima blinked at him and adjusted his glasses.

“Thanks. You clean up pretty well,” he said. That struck a chord, making Kuroo smile broadly and attempt to hide it by choking down more Poptart. Unfortunately, Tsukishima caught him.

“What? Are you that starved for a compliment?”

“It’s not that. I guess, I just kind of expected you to say that?” Kuroo chuckled.

“Am I getting predictable now?” Tsukishima smirked.

“No, I’m just getting better at guessing,” Kuroo said. Just then, Bokuto came bounding into the balcony, nearly startling Tsukishima out of his seat.

“There you are Kuroo! I was looking all over for you,” he exclaimed. He was still covered from head to toe in Silly String.

“After you decided to spray me in the face,” Kuroo raised his eyebrow.

“It was war, Kuroo. War.”

“I know. What do you need?”

“There’s this playground in the middle of town that Akaashi and I want to check out. Wanna come along?” he grinned. Out of the corner of his eye, Kuroo could see Tsukishima silently biting into his Poptart, the smile gone from his face.

“That sounds fun but, I’m good here,” Kuroo shook his head. At that, he saw Tsukishima perk up just a tiny bit, making him smile.

“Alrighty! Have fun you guys!” Bokuto grinned. “Bye Tsukki!” he called out before leaving. They were alone again and Tsukishima looked at Kuroo.

“You know, you didn’t have to stay behind just for me,” he said.

“What makes you think I just did that for you?” Kuroo raised an eyebrow. “You think I just feel sorry you’d be left alone here?”

“Kind of…” Tsukishima murmured.

“Well, I’m not. Surprise, surprise, I enjoy talking to you Tsukishima. Why do you think I said ‘let’s drive somewhere’ that night we went to the beach?”

“Okay, okay. I get it. I’m not just making stuff up in my head,” Tsukishima said.

“Also, just to add proof. I don’t really like Poptarts but I just finished the one you gave me just because you gave them to me,” Kuroo smiled. That made Tsukishima crack a smile

“Well, good thing you don’t like it because the one time I get Poptarts for free and I’m not sharing anymore,” he said, patting his pockets.

“Aww, but you shared them with me. I’m touched,” Kuroo gushed.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get to full of yourself.”

“Hey Tsukki. Play that serial killer podcast again. I’m in the mood for a listen.”

“I’m glad you get the appeal,” Tsukishima grinned and took out his phone. “You have to move a bit closer cause my phone speakers are a bit weak”

“Got it,” Kuroo scooted the deck chair close to Tsukishima’s and lay down on it beside him. Tsukishima hit ‘play’ and the intro music started playing through the phone speakers. Kuroo leaned in closer to listen before realizing that he and Tsukishima were actually really close with only the armrests of the deck chairs separating them. Even as the podcast show hosts started introducing the serial killer, Ted Bundy, Kuroo’s eyes couldn’t help but glance over at Tsukishima’s face, as stoic as usual but deep in thought, and the way that the light coming from the nearby room illuminated his pale skin and made his hair look even more gold. And just as he knew it was going to happen, Tsukishima caught him staring.

“T-there’s still Silly String in your hair,” Kuroo said quickly.

“Oh,” Tsukishima ran a hand through his hair, messing it up slightly as he went. “Is it gone?”

“Not yet,” Kuroo raised a hand to Tsukishima’s hair, plucking away at the invisible piece of Silly String. He didn’t even know what made him do that and yet, he did. “There. All gone.”

“Thanks,” Tsukishima muttered, leaning back into the chair, leaving Kuroo and the sound of the serial killer podcast deafened by how fast his heart was beating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope u guys liked this chapter!! a bit tmi but i think one of my fave scenes to write was when bokuto watching akaashi do their make-up esp since i used to force myself to hate make-up before because i thought boys wouldn't like me if i wore them. but now i wear make-up every day and i have a girlfriend so hAH. (but yeah not important anyway do what you love, powder the heck out of your face, wing that eyeliner). also, yes, akaashi really was attracted to bokuto not supporting the fast fashion industry


	11. shifting tectonics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by: face masks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another chapter for you guys! we're getting close to the end! actually, this may come as a shock and i'm sorry i didn't mention it sooner but the next chapter will be the last chapter but we have two (2) epilogues. i know it's one to many but honestly i love writing epilogues most of all so i hope u guys understand :)

One of the only times Kenma would purposely go to the small room Kuroo stayed in on top of the diner was when he was getting his hair re-bleached, especially since his parents were always telling him to get a proper haircut. It was much easier for him to disappear on a Saturday morning and come back home with the grown-out parts of his hair, except for the roots because he couldn’t stand how much the bleach stung his scalp, fried yellow. Also, because Kenma always managed to make a mess of his job and somehow get his hands covered in the chemical so Kuroo stepped in with his knowledge of bleaching videos from Youtube.

Right now, he was sitting on the floor in-between Kuroo’s legs with most of his hair wrapped in foils while his best friend went over the black parts of his hair with bleach. Kenma had the fleeting thought of maybe, someday down the line, making a video of how he had Kuroo bleach his hair. ‘That’s if it actually gets a good number of subscribers one day,’ he thought. And, as if Kuroo read his mind, he asked:

“So, how’s the Youtube channel going?”

“Aren’t you the one who spams my videos with so many comments but from different Youtube accounts?” Kenma sighed.

“How’d you know those were me?!” Kuroo asked incredulously.

“The account names are all horror movie references,” Kenma deadpanned.

“Dang it. I knew I should have bribed Tsukki too.”

“Please don’t.”

He had released his first video, an introduction to his channel, a day after the party and his first game playthrough a week after. Thanks to shout-outs from Yachi and Akaashi’s channel, he got a considerable number of views and comments from people who weren’t Kuroo. In short, the outcome was pretty much what Kenma predicted. And he prided himself in thinking very realistically.

“But what do you feel about what you’ve worked on so far? Still anticipating to create more content?” Kuroo asked, grabbing another piece of foil as he worked on a new section.

“Yeah. I’ve got a whole checklist of videos I want to make and I’m still pretty clearheaded with where I want my channel to go.”

“That’s great! Checklists are always important. Also, another question. Why Kodzuken?”

“I put my name in a Cool Username Generator and went with what they came up with. Also, Shouyo thought it sounded cool,” Kenma shrugged.

“You know, you seem to have grown pretty close to Hinata over these past months.”

“I don’t know. It’s hard to keep your eye off him,” Kenma said. “And he’s nice to be around especially for a raging optimist.” And there was a warmth to him too.

“Hah, raging optimist. That’s a good description of him,” Kuroo laughed. “Kind of like Bokuto.” Kenma smiled to himself, which wasn’t hard since he was covered in foil. Kuroo really had let go of Bokuto, Kenma could tell from the way he said his name. Kenma also had a pretty good idea as to who might have helped in the process. Though, he was biding his time before saying it out loud.

“How about you? You’ve landed a sponsor. Any hopes that you’d get more good news?” he decided to ask.

“About that,” Kuroo cleared his throat, Kenma could feel him pause at brushing bleach through his hair. “I actually got this really good offer…”

“You have?” Kenma bobbed his head up. “When?”

“Two days ago,” Kuroo chuckled, gently prodding Kenma to bend his head down again. “I couldn’t believe it at first and then I had to think really hard about it that’s why I haven’t told you yet. But, I got an offer for my podcast to appear on a streaming platform instead of just on my website. And this streaming platform is like, international, not just local.”

“Kuroo. This is big,” Kenma blinked in surprise. “This is your big break.”

“I know,” he heard him chuckle. “The thing is, it requires a lot of work. A lot more than how I’ve been working now. I’d probably have to work on email subscriptions to my website, let alone actually making my website look better. And because I’d be working with an international audience, I’ll have to learn English as well or at least work with someone who knows English. It’s… It’s going to be a full-time job basically.”

Kenma knew where this was going. “And…?”

“I’ll have to quit working at Bird’s Nest,” Kuroo finally said.

“Well, was your dream to become a podcaster or to work here?” Kenma asked.

“I know, I know,” Kuroo sighed. “But, I mean, maybe I can do both?”

“You can’t do both, you’re already struggling with both as it is,” Kenma turned around to face him. “I know this place and Bokuto mean a lot to you and I know you feel that Bokuto would be hurt by you leaving, but sometimes you have to think about yourself.”

“Doesn’t that make me selfish?” Kuroo snorted.

“No, it doesn’t. You can’t just be everybody to everybody. Not even to Bokuto.”

“I don’t know. I… I’ll think about it. I have until the end of the week, actually,” Kuroo said. Kenma sighed but knew better than to push things further especially at this time. Instead, Kenma sat back and let Kuroo resume bleaching his hair in silence. After letting his hair marinate in toxic chemicals, finally washed everything out in Kuroo’s cramped bathroom before looking at his work in the mirror. As always, the bleaching job was done well with the newly bleached parts blending with the parts that had been lightened previously. While looking in the mirror, he found himself thinking about how little his appearance changed from when he was in high school. ‘Except now I look a lot more tired,’ he thought. His hands itched as his eyes landed on the pair of scissors on the bathroom shelf that Kuroo probably used to trim his own hair from time to time. And before he knew it, he picked it up and started cutting his own hair.

When he left the bathroom, Kuroo took one look at him and said “You know, if you had cut your hair first this would have been all easier.”

“Sorry. I got the impulse when I saw the scissors,” he mumbled.

“Not to mention you did it pretty unevenly too,” Kuroo said, scrutinizing the ends of Kenma’s hair before sighing and taking the scissors from the bathroom to even it all out. “There.”

“Thanks, Kuroo.”

“Heh, you look exactly like how you did back in high school.”

“I know,” Kenma pulled at a piece of hair. “I feel like I’m heading into a new beginning, I guess.”

“That’s surprisingly optimistic and poetic,” Kuroo raised his eyebrows. Kenma shrugged. “So, where you headed off to now?”

“Maybe just catch Pokemon around the city.”

“Alright. Have fun, nerd. Tell me if you catch something exciting,” Kuroo grinned.

“Yeah,” Kenma smiled, feeling quite hopeful for his friends. “I’ll text you.”

“Take care!” Kuroo waved before Kenma left.

The weather was a lot warmer now with spring well underway and the trees along the street were already sprouting new leaves and blossoms. Kenma never liked spring nor summer because his allergies from pollen would always kick in. But now, he found himself looking forward to it a bit, remembering that he could just pack antihistamine in his bag. He pulled out his phone to catch Pokemon again and to get some distance with hatching his eggs. A good few minutes later, he was well on his way tracking down an Alakazam at a nearby PokeStop when he got a text from Hinata.

[from: shouyo]

(2:04 pm) _KENMAAAAA_

(2:04 pm) _R U BUSY????_

(2:04 pm) _KAGYAMA AND I HVAE NWES_

Kenma took a few seconds to contemplate his priorities before deciding to text Hinata back.

[to: shouyo]

(2:05 pm) _i’m free_

(2:05 pm) _what’s the news?_

[from: shouyo]

(2:05 pm) _CAN WE MEET?_

(2:05 pm) _AT THE GYM?_

Kenma contemplated his priorities once again.

[to: shouyo]

(2:06 pm) _i’m on my way_

As much as he liked Hinata, he still wasn’t willing to run to meet him but he still made it to the gym not long after where Hinata and Kageyama were cheering about something. Hinata spotted Kenma first before running up and enveloping him in a hug, practically lifting Kenma off the ground. At this point, he had gotten used to these kinds of hugs from Hinata and even found himself secretly liking them.

“Kenma!” Hinata cheered.

“What’s the big news?” Kenma asked, looking from Hinata’s smiling face to Kageyama’s smiling face, that looked more like a murderous expression.

“We both got scouted for a professional volleyball team!” Hinata exclaimed. “And they’ll send us to a training camp abroad after this semester so—”

“We don’t have to stay another year in college!” Kageyama added.

“That’s great you two,” Kenma smiled at them. “Neither of you should have had anything to worry about actually.”

“Hehe, I should have listened to you,” Hinata smiled sheepishly. “But, ahhhh!! I’m so happy! Nothing could make me happier!”

“It’s your dream, after all,” Kenma nodded. “So, how are you guys celebrating?”

“Naruto marathon, obviously,” Kageyama snickered.

“And pizza!” Hinata added.

“The usual, then,” Kenma smiled. “Well, I hope you guys enjoy.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Hinata asked.

“Umm, well—”

“If you’re not busy you’re welcome to come with us,” Kageyama said.

“Really? I don’t want to intrude…”

“You’re our friend too,” Hinata grinned and put an arm around his shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get pizza!” Kenma still had a pile of readings to take care of at home but he went with them anyway and ended up in their apartment that was soon starting to feel like another home to him other than Kuroo’s house. Kenma never thought he’d find friends other than Kuroo. That changed when he met Tsukishima, even more so when he met Hinata and Kageyema.

“By the way, congratulations with your first video. It looked really great,” Kageyama said. They were halfway through their pizza and a good amount of Naruto episodes into their celebration.

“You think so? I thought the intro could have been better…” Kenma trailed off. Yachi had taught him basics with video editing but he still needed to feel less awkward in front of a camera.

“It’s not like watching other Youtubers but in a way, watching your channel was pretty refreshing,” Hinata added.

“How so?” Kenma asked, eager to take mental notes.

“Well, you’re not loud and you don’t exaggerate a lot of things,” Hinata enumerated.

“It’s quite fun to see that jumpscares don’t bother you,” Kageyama added.

“And you have a nice voice,” Hinata said last. Kenma felt himself smile a bit.

“Thanks. I’ll keep those in mind. So, where are you guys being sent off for your training camp?”

“Brazil!” Hinata and Kageyama chorused.

“Brazil?” Kenma echoed, his mind going into where Brazil was in the world. ‘It’s that huge-ass chunk of land in South America, right? The one that does the carnivals and stuff?’

“I keep trying to think about how it wasn’t a waste for us to learn German when we’re being sent off to Brazil,” Kageyama said.

“Yes, don’t think that,” Hinata shook his head. “We’d have to learn Portuguese or something.”

“Is it close to German?”

“I don’t think so.”

“You too can figure it out,” Kenma chuckled. “Have you told your families yet?”

“Yup!” Hinata grinned. “I’m going to miss them though while I’m away. Kageyama and I will probably have to stay in Brazil for a while. We’ll miss all of you guys too.”

“Like Bokuto’s fried chicken,” Kageyama sighed.

“Yeah. And the _people,_ ” Hinata emphasized.

“Right,” Kageyama nodded absentmindedly before standing up to go to the bathroom. No doubt to wash the pizza grease from his hands.

“We can arrange video calls if you want,” Kenma shrugged.

“That would be great!” Hinata grinned. “Man, I can’t wait to leave already. Then I’ll come back stronger than ever with a brand-new team and stay for a longer time on court with a bigger audience!”

“I’ll be waiting for you then,” Kenma smiled. “I’ll be waving from the audience when you’re on the court.” At that, Hinata smiled brightly.

“You better work on your channel too while we’re gone. You have to have a video once a week, except when you’re sick or need to take break. And when you get, like, millions of subscribers, I’ll be commenting and saying I was your first one!” It was true, though. Hinata was his first subscriber. All of a sudden, Kenma felt a bit more confident about his channel.

“Alright, that’s a promise, Shouyo,” he nodded.

“A pinky promise?” Hinata held up his pinky, smiling expectantly. It was endearing to see.

“Pinky promise,” Kenma nodded, locking pinkies with Hinata.

…

It was a good day for Akaashi. They woke up just when their alarm rang, checked their phone to find out that their professor was canceling their first class, and went back to sleep for another hour. Since they only had a meeting with their advisor for the day, they took their time to cook and eat breakfast, shower, put on make-up, and text Bokuto for a good twenty minutes. After leaving the house, they stopped by their favorite café for some iced coffee before taking the bus to their university.

They couldn’t remember the last peaceful, actually peaceful and not I’m-too-stressed-to-care, day Akaashi had in a while and because of that, they truly began to feel that their time in university was coming to an end. It was a similar feeling they had when their time in high school was about to end. ‘Three years passed and, then another three,’ they thought, sipping their coffee while looking out the window. But as always, Akaashi had a clear-cut plan for their future. They didn’t want to go back to university for a Masters degree, that’s for sure. Rather, Akaashi wanted to start a small business selling altered clothes and maybe even offering their services with altered clothes. Maybe they’d even have a small shop other than just an online platform and offer classes and workshops too? There were still areas of uncertainty but now, they didn’t bother Akaashi so much.

And Bokuto had his job too at the diner. Akaashi loved that both of them had their own passions to pursue, its one of the reasons why they fell in love with Bokuto in the first place. ‘Maybe we can even move in together,’ they thought with a smile as they got ready to leave once the bus stopped in front of their university.

Inside their adviser’s office, all thoughts about the future were pushed slightly to the side as they reviewed the chapter drafts of Akaashi’s thesis. Their advisor, Professor Haruki, was known to be quite nitpicky and critical, which was exactly why Akaashi chose him, but it still didn’t make them any less nervous when they had an advisory session with him. Especially since Professor Haruki would read everything in silence first before commenting.

Thankfully today, there weren’t as many comments and Akaashi felt their heart soar when Professor Haruki raised their eyebrows and nodded while reading one of the pages. There were just a few edits to be made and two more chapters to write and Akaashi was basically done. They couldn’t quite believe it and spent a good length of time hugging their thick stack of chapters while sipping their coffee outside Professor Haruki’s office, which was a pretty normal occurrence. Only, their good mood was slightly ruined when they saw Daishou Suguru exit his advisor’s office across the hallway.

“Ah, if it isn’t Akaashi Keiji,” he grinned, strutting up to them. “How’s your thesis? I bet it’s coming along nicely.”

“Well, it doesn’t have as many marks in red, that’s for sure,” Akaashi raised their eyebrow at the front sheet of the stack of papers Daishou was holding that had a good number of scrawls in red. Daishou at least had the decency to look slightly embarrassed and hide it behind his back.

“The competition is this Saturday. Are you and your little diner friends ready?” he smirked. Akaashi raised their eyebrows at the attempt to change the subject but since they were in a good mood, they indulged it nonetheless.

“I don’t know, we did win the last round so I assume so,” they shrugged nonchalantly as they made their way down the hallway with Daishou following behind.

“And we won the first round without the help of the audience vote so I don’t know if you’re implying that we’re neck-in-neck with the chances of winning the entire show,” Daishou said.

“And if you’re implying that your chefs will win because of their expertise, then how come they lost to two young adults, one of which was just self-taught and owned a diner since he was twenty,” Akaashi smirked slightly at the expression on Daishou’s face. “It’s alright if you’re scared. That’s quite the blow to your reputation, of course.”

“Listen, Akaashi. I know you and your friends are pretty tight but don’t forget that we have a lot more people on our side,” Daishou said, pointing a finger at him. “So maybe watch what you say a bit more, why don’t you?”

Akaashi had a feeling that there was a lot more up Daishou’s sleeve than he chose to let on. However, he wasn’t putting all his cards on the table yet. “I guess we’ll only know on the day itself,” they chose to say.

“I guess we shall,” Daishou gave one final, annoying smirk before leaving Akaashi to head out of the building only to find Bokuto waiting outside.

“Akaashi!” he grinned, waving his entire arm at him. All of a sudden, the good mood was restored.

“What are you doing here?” they walked up to him, unable to hide the smile from their face.

“I missed you so I wanted to pick you up!” Bokuto grinned. “How was your meeting?”

“Well, my advisor had some pretty nice things to say about my chapters so far,” Akaashi smiled. “So, it’s a pretty straight shot to the end. How about you? How did your practice with Kuroo go?”

“Pretty good,” Bokuto nodded confidently. “We’re always in-sync anyway so nothing could possibly go wrong.”

“I believe that.”

“Anyway, so, I was thinking about what to do with the prize money when we win.”

“And?” Akaashi cocked their head, curious. “What did you come up with?”

“Well, I was thinking about adding a second floor to the diner. Have it properly renovated, you know? Maybe I’ll even hire Yachi to design the space,” Bokuto grinned.

“She’d love that,” Akaashi smiled. “But then that means you and Kuroo would have to find another place to stay.”

“About that,” Bokuto paused and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly while Akaashi waited patiently for him to continue. “I was actually thinking of getting a place, with you, but only if you’re open to it.”

“Bokuto, I would love that,” Akaashi sighed, holding Bokuto’s hand.

“Y-you would?” their boyfriend stammered.

“I’ve been thinking about it for some time,” Akaashi admitted. “And I would very much like to do it with you.”

“Great! We can have a really nice kitchen for me to make breakfast for you every morning. If we get a two-bedroom place maybe we’ll set up the other room to be your studio! And then on weekends we could invite everyone over for dinner,” Bokuto yammered on excitedly making Akaashi chuckle.

“You do know its not cheap to get an apartment these days,” they said.

“Then we’ll start small! I don’t care about the size of the place as long as its with you,” Bokuto grinned.

“Me too, Bokuto,” Akaashi nodded. “Let’s think about it more, okay? I still have to graduate from college.”

“I got you, Akaashi,” Bokuto kissed their temple as they walked to the bus stop.

“Don’t forget to tell Kuroo, okay?” they reminded.

“He’ll be fine with it, he’s my best friend after all,” Bokuto shrugged. Akaashi pursed their lips. They were well aware of Kuroo’s podcast, even giving it a few listen and liking the content, and as much as they knew Kuroo worked well with Bokuto, Akaashi felt that working in the diner was a temporary place for him. Not that it was a bad thing, they were just worried that Bokuto might be leading themselves on.

“You know, Kageyama and Hinata got scouted for a professional team,” Akaashi began. “They’ll be training in Brazil soon.”

“I know!” Bokuto exclaimed. “As much as I’ll miss having them around at the diner, I really think this would be a good opportunity for them to follow their dreams.”

“And, do you think there may be anyone else who wants to follow their dreams?” Akaashi pressed.

“Hmm? You mean your clothes business?” Bokuto asked, turning to them.

“Yes, that. But also, I was thinking about Kuroo, actually,” they said.

“Well, I know he’s able to do both at the moment. Maybe I should consider hiring more staff so he could take more breaks,” Bokuto said. Akaashi sighed, realizing that this wasn’t going where they wanted it to.

“Have you considered the fact that working at Bird’s Nest is just temporary for him?”

“Temporary? You mean, that he might… leave?” All of a sudden Bokuto looked quite sad. “I… I hope not. I’m not ready for him to leave. Why would he think about leaving?”

“Because he’s following his own dream?” Akaashi suggested.

“I… never quite thought about that,” Bokuto admitted. “Especially since Kuroo was around at such a rough time when Nobu-san took over management and stuck around even after everyone but us left.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Akaashi touched his shoulder sympathetically. “He must mean a lot to you.”

“Of course, it was always the two of us against the world of competitive eating establishments,” Bokuto grinned half-heartedly.

“It’s just a thought, Bokuto. But I want you to be ready for the possibility.”

“I don’t know, he promised he would stay for a while. But then again, everyone else and Ukai-san said they would,” Bokuto touched the hand that was on his shoulder. Akaashi could tell that they were going into something a bit touchier and deeper and decided to drop things for now.

“It’s just a possibility, Bokuto-san. No need to think too hard about it yet,” they smiled reassuringly. “And besides. No matter what, you have me and everyone else to lean on.”

“So, I better knock ‘em dead in the competition,” Bokuto smirked.

“Yeah, you better,” Akaashi nodded. For a second, they remembered Daishou’s warning and forcefully pushed it to the back of their head.

…

The final round of Tokyo’s Best Diner was held in a venue about two hours away from where the old one was. Tsukishima suspected an increase in viewers and therefore, budget, especially when Bokuto and Kuroo got an email about a free stay in a hotel nearby. The natural response for them after was to invite all nine of them to stay in said room because they were all friends at this point and staying in a single hotel room was going to solidify that friendship. Tsukishima couldn’t think of a worse way to ‘solidify’ the friendship and his thoughts were further confirmed when everyone, except Yachi who had class but promised to follow, stepped into the room to find just two, twin-sized beds.

“Didn’t they know there will be more of us?” Bokuto asked as everyone gathered at the foot of those two beds.

“Four, maybe, but definitely not _nine people_ ,” Tsukishima emphasized. The fact that he just joined everyone on this trip proved how much his braincells have merged with everyone in the group. A disturbing realization, but one he knew he couldn’t avoid at this point. ‘And besides,’ he thought, glancing over at Kuroo who was once again wearing his ‘glam’ pants, ‘group mentality isn’t entirely to blame here.’

A few minutes later, all of them were sitting in a circle on the floor with Kuroo at the supposed ‘head’ of the circle. “I now call the Council of Deciding Who Gets to Sleep on a Bed to order to decide on exactly who gets to sleep on a bed. Only four people will have the opportunity to sleep on a bed. You may either state why you deserve to sleep on a bed or why another person deserves to sleep on a bed. Please raise your hand when making a statement.”

“This is dumb. Let’s just draw straws for it,” Tsukishima stated.

“You did not raise your hand and therefore that is ignored.”

Tsukishima raised his hand but Kuroo ignored him again with a smirk on his face. Bokuto raised his hand.

“Speak.”

“Since Kuroo and I are the reason for us being here I suggest we get to sleep on a bed and decide on who gets to sleep on the beds too!” Bokuto stated.

“Yeah!” Hinata agreed.

“You do realize he’s going to choose Akaashi,” Kageyama raised an eyebrow.

“But… I’m his son.”

“I wholeheartedly agree with you, Bokuto,” Kuroo bowed. Tsukishima raised his hand.

“Objection! The Council Head is clearly biased. I motion to remove him from his position,” he exclaimed.

“Motion seconded,” Kenma raised his hand.

“What? I was going to choose you to share a bed,” Kuroo pouted.

“Exactly why I’m seconding the motion,” Kenma deadpanned. Yamaguchi raised his hand.

“Motion to let Yachi sleep on a bed.”

“Objection!” Tsukishima raised his hand. “His statement clearly has an underlying motive due to their relationship.”

“Care to object to the objection?” Kuroo asked Yamaguchi. Just as he was about to speak, the door to their room opened and Yachi walked in.

“Hi guys! Sorry I’m late but I managed to bake some brownies for us to eat later and I brought some face masks in case anyone wants to try them out,” she said, holding her tray of brownies. She looked at the eight of them sitting in a circle. “Did I… miss anything?”

“All in favor of letting Yachi sleep on a bed?” Kuroo asked. Everyone raised their hand.

In the end, they all agreed to vote by drawing straws for the remaining three slots. By some great fortune, Yamaguchi got a slot, which he was obviously going to share with Yachi. The two others were Kageyama and Kuroo. Tsukishima and Kenma agreed to sleep by the wall nearest the rightmost bunk bed.

After the sleeping arrangement was decided on, they all went out for dinner at a nearby diner that apparently served really good hotpot. The last time Tsukishima had hotpot was Christmas dinner at Tanaka’s house that Saeko cooked. It was really good, but not as good as the one in the diner. At one point, long after he stopped eating, he found himself looking around at everyone at the table: Yamaguchi was reading up on exchange programs on his phone, Hinata and Kageyama were on their fifth cup of rice and right when Kageyama looked like he was about to choke, Akaashi handed him a glass of water, Bokuto was busy sipping spoonfuls of broth and writing down what he guessed the ingredients were on a pad of paper, and lastly, Tsukishima’s eyes landed on Kuroo, who was busy talking about microphones with Yachi. He didn’t realize he was staring until Kuroo looked up and caught his eye, leaving Tsukishima to quickly turn away and drink from his glass of water.

His feelings for Kuroo had been around for months now and yet, Tsukishima did not quite know what to do with them. He never had these kinds of feelings before and while he wasn’t quick to write off that he could potentially like someone, he didn’t expect to meet someone like Kuroo and for the feelings to come so strongly. ‘It’s because of those nights,’ Tsukishima thought, thinking back to when Kuroo drove him home from the movie theater, when he slept over in his room, when they drove to the beach after midnight, when they sat and listened to a serial killer podcast, and those countless nights before when Tsukishima stayed up to wait for a new Screams On-Screen episode. He wondered if that is what people meant by liking someone before even meeting them.

Tsukishima liked to think that there was the possibility that Kuroo liked him back, considering how much time they spent together, only for him to remember that Kuroo had liked Bokuto before. What if that was what Kuroo’s type was? Someone optimistic, fun, hardworking, and just so unafraid. Everything that Tsukishima basically was not. And as much as he tried not to be around Kuroo as much, he could hardly stand to be apart.

Later that night, in the hotel room, Yachi cracked out the brownies she baked which of course, everyone loved, thus reaffirming their choice about her deserving to sleep on a bed. It reminded Tsukishima a lot of the team training camps he and his friends went on in high school. Well, until Yachi brought out the face masks.

“Dibs on the Panda-looking one!” Hinata exclaimed, picking up one of them.

“This one would look good on you,” Kuroo snickered, tossing what appeared to be a cat-shaped mask at Kenma who raised an eyebrow at him as if to say ‘there’s no way in hell I’m wearing a cat-shaped face mask’.

“Come on Kenma! I’ll put yours on!” Hinata grinned. All of a sudden, that look on Kenma’s face disappeared.

“Sure, Shouyo.”

Tsukishima felt his mouth hang open as Kenma followed Hinata to the bathroom. Akaashi and Yachi went around helping people put on their face masks while Tsukishima flopped down on one of the mattresses they placed on the floor and scrolled through his phone. That’s when Yamaguchi came to stand by his head, looking down at him with a facemask stuck to his face.

“Tsukki! Put one on yourself too!”

“No thanks, I’m good,” Tsukishima squinted at him.

“Come on! It feels really nice!” Yamaguchi began tugging his arm.

“Not if you’re practically blind without your glasses,” he resisted only for Kuroo to loom over him as well, looking just as scary with his face mask.

“Come on Tsukki!” he whined, assisting Yamaguchi in pulling Tsukishima to sit up, which he did, only to find everyone else, except Hinata and Kenma who were no doubt still putting on their face masks in the bathroom, looking back at him. It gave Tsukishima ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ vibes and he knew very well he was going to get a nightmare from this.

“I can hold him down while you facemask him,” Kageyama offered.

“Oh god, please don’t,” Tsukishima recoiled.

“Great!” Yamaguchi grinned, again looking creepy through the face mask. And that was when Hinata and Kenma came out of the bathroom. Tsukishima’s basic understanding of how shapes and matter worked prevented him from choosing the animal-shaped face masks and seeing Kenma and Hinata only reaffirmed his choice because they looked like the stuff of nightmares with cartoonish animal faces stretched over their own faces.

“Before you say anything, please know that we did not expect things to happen like this,” Hinata raised his hand.

“Can you both, sit in the corner or something? This is terrifying,” Akaashi asked.

“I’m already getting nightmares,” Bokuto shivered.

“Will do,” Kenma nodded and he and Hinata sat facing a wall.

“I don’t, look like that, do I?” Kuroo turned to Tsukishima. Of course, he could say something along the lines of, ‘No, I don’t know how but you still look pretty hot even when you’re wearing a face mask’ but what came out of his mouth instead was:

“You’re not far off.”

“And you’ll look like that too,” Yamaguchi grinned, swiping his glasses off before Tsukishima could protest. He could feel Kuroo’s hand pushing his hair back and hoped that he couldn’t feel his face suddenly heat up when Yamaguchi quickly smoothed the mask over his face. It was cold and wet, and Tsukishima morbidly wondered if this was what it was like to wear another person’s face, but after a while, it felt quite nice to wear. He could see why Yamaguchi put on face masks often, especially during the summer, and wondered about doing the same at least once a week.

Akaashi showed him how to pat the remaining face mask juice on his face so that he wouldn’t go to bed wet and everyone decided to head to sleep early. Even Kenma, surprisingly, but apparently, he was tired from editing videos all night. As he lay down between Kenma and one of the twin beds where he could see Kuroo sleeping, Tsukishima wondered if his fellow Archaeology Department friend was going to actually drop out. It made him a bit sad to know that he’d lose someone to joke, nap in classes, and build last-minute dioramas with, but part of him was happy that Kenma was getting to do something that was worth his time. Even if Tsukishima didn’t quite relate to it.

Eventually, his thoughts wandered over to Kuroo who was asleep on the bed beside him with the pillows pressed against his head again. The rise and fall of his back suggested he was fast asleep, as was Kenma beside him, but Tsukishima was far from it. In fact, he could tell by the sounds of breathing all around the room that he was probably the only one awake. ‘Well, this sucks,’ he mentally groaned, pulling out his phone and earphones to look for something to listen to. However, as soon as the glow from his phone washed over his face, Kuroo stirred out of his small pillow fortress.

“Sorry,” Tsukishima whispered, quickly turning off his phone. “Did I wake you up?”

“No, couldn’t sleep actually,” Kuroo murmured, his head fully emerged and leaning over the side of the bed to look at Tsukishima. In the dim light from the hallway lamp that they couldn’t figure out how to turn off because the hotel was too high-tech for them, Tsukishima could see how extra bedhead-looking Kuroo’s hair was and how some of the strands still stuck to his forehead from the face mask juice. “Did you know that Kageyama grinds his teeth in his sleep?” Kuroo frowned.

“Oh yeah. He did that all the time in the bus when we come home from our matches,” Tsukishima smirked slightly.

“Ah, I see,” Kuroo nodded. “I guess I’m also pretty nervous about what’s going to happen tomorrow. I believe in Bokuto and all, just worried that maybe I’ll screw something up and it’ll cost us our win.”

“You guys will do fine. You’ve always been good,” Tsukishima tried to reassure him.

“If both of you don’t shut up or find somewhere else to talk, I’m murdering both of you with the free hotel pen,” Kenma murmured beside him. Tsukishima and Kuroo shared a look.

“Want to like, talk in the bathroom or something?” he asked quietly. Tsukishima bit his lip, knowing well enough that he would only get more attached to Kuroo because of this, but nodded anyway. Kuroo silently got up and tiptoed to the bathroom with Tsukishima following behind.

…

Never in a million years did Kuroo think of using a hotel bathroom as a hangout place but unfortunately, Kageyama’s teeth-grinding prevented him from sleeping, Kenma’s sleeping prevented him from talking, and Tsukishima happened to be awake as well. Actually, even if Tsukishima wasn’t awake, Kuroo would still hang out with him in a hotel bathroom. Not that he would purposely wake Tsukishima up because that would be mean but more like, there’s no other person he’d hang out in a hotel bathroom with.

Luckily, the bathroom in their room was more than large enough for two fully-grown men to sit across from each other. Kuroo had stretched his legs out on the floor in front of him and next to Tsukishima’s very long ones. ‘He’s probably just one meter of leg and another one meter of everything else,’ Kuroo thought.

“So,” Tsukishima said.

“So,” Kuroo looked around the bathroom. “You know what this reminds me of?” Tsukishima looked at him quizzically. “Let’s see if our brains have truly started to be on the same wavelength if you can guess what this reminds me of.”

“Hmm,” Tsukishima looked around from the bathtub they were sitting next to, to the tiles around the room. “I’m really hoping it’s not the case but… Saw?”

“Yes!” Kuroo exclaimed. “But then, the bathtub was probably a dead giveaway.”

“Kind of,” Tsukishima shrugged. “And the fact that you’re almost always thinking of a movie reference when you ask me to guess what you’re thinking about.”

“Dang, I’m getting predictable.”

“You still manage to surprise every now and then,” Tsukishima smirked. There was something about that look on his face, and the fact that it was just the two of them alone at the moment, that made Kuroo’s heart skip a beat. He tried to recall the time when he first saw Tsukishima as one of his fans and a friend of Yachi’s who came to help out at the diner but doing so made him remember all those times he anticipated reading his number one fan’s long Twitter threads after every podcast episode he posted. Even when Tsukishima was simply a face from the Internet, he had always been a part of Kuroo’s life.

“Hey, I was wondering,” he found himself saying. “Say, I never made Screams On-Screen and we never met each other any other way, even through that Flat Earth Society Facebook group. Just when Yachi came over to redecorate the diner with you guys. Do you think we would have been friends the way we are now?”

“That’s a weird question,” Tsukishima cocked his head. “How come?”

“I don’t know, I just keep thinking about how scripted it feels that we knew each other beforehand through my podcast and then ended up meeting at a very opportune time,” Kuroo answered. “And as someone who strongly believe in astrology—I see you rolling your eyes there Tsukki, just listen—I also do think that those pulls of chance and fate happen. But I don’t know, what if that didn’t happen and we were just two guys who didn’t know each other before?”

“Well, admittedly I do think about that too,” Tsukishima looked down and fiddled with the bathroom rug. “I think our love of movies would bring us together, as friends. And I’d still see you as annoyingly clingy with a weird sense of fashion, but I think we would still be friends.”

“Awww. I’d find your sarcasm and dry humor just as charming and endearing,” Kuroo gushed. “But would you still, I don’t know, agree for a drive to the ocean with me? Even if we hadn’t met each other before?”

“That feels a bit ambiguous. But either way, I think we should be glad that things turned out the way they did.” Kuroo felt his eyes widen at the very un-Tsukishima thing that came from Tsukishima’s mouth. He must have seen the look on Kuroo’s face because he quickly said “Shut up, Kuroo. I like being friends with you and everyone else. You guys spark joy or whatever.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone,” Kuroo grinned. “You know, you don’t have to pretend not to care so much.”

“If I don’t, who will? And besides, according to Dunbarr’s number we’ll only have one-hundred and fifty people within our close social circle at any moment during our life. I’m sure I can fit about eight people in there.”

“I know you’re not good with feelings so I’ll take it,” Kuroo chuckled, which turned into a yawn.

“I guess I’ve bored you enough,” Tsukishima smirked.

“Yeah, sorry. I can stay up a bit if you’re still not sleepy.”

“I’m nearly there, actually.”

“So, should we go? Kenma should be back to sleep by now,” Kuroo offered, pointing to the door.

“Yeah. Wouldn’t want to miss the complimentary breakfast buffet tomorrow morning,” Tsukishima stood up and stretched his arms, his fingers nearly brushed the ceiling.

“Right you are,” Kuroo grinned, following suit until they were back in their beds. Kageyama’s teeth grinding had stopped, ‘grinded to a halt, actually’, Kuroo thought with a grin. He rolled over on his stomach again and was about to press the pillows again when he felt something tap his arm. He looked down to see Tsukishima holding up one of his earphones. Kuroo picked up the earphone as Tsukishima flashed his phone screen at him, showing another serial killer podcast playing. Wordlessly, Kuroo grinned, rolled over to sleep on his back, and put the earphone in. It wasn’t the most comfortable of sleeping positions for him and he found himself wanting to turn over to see Tsukishima again and just like that night at the party, not even a serial killer podcast could calm down what he was feeling.

Kuroo was familiar with these emotions. After all, he was a Scorpio and his emotions tended to rush out like a tide when he let them. He knew very well that what he was feeling was nothing new, it was just directed at someone else. Because Kuroo found himself falling in love with Tsukishima Kei.

The next morning, he was woken up by Bokuto, Hinata and Kageyama chanting ‘Breakfast buffet! Breakfast buffet!’ because apparently, their stomachs woke them up. They were the first wave of breakfast-goers. The next were Yamaguchi, Yachi, and Akaashi, who were just woken up by their normal, functioning body clocks. And the last to get up were Tsukishima, Kenma, and Kuroo, who could sleep all day for all anyone cared. The worst among them was Kenma, who Tsukishima and Kuroo both had to work hard to wake up until he was shuffling around the room, struggling to put a jacket on over his pajamas. Kuroo, on the other hand, already put on his clothes for the day as well as his stilettos, just to do something to wake himself up even more.

“Actually, guys, before we leave, I just wanted to say something,” Kuroo cleared his throat. It had been part of the reason why he asked Tsukishima about whether or not they would have been this close if his podcast hadn’t existed.

“Please make it quick, I’m hungry,” Kenma grumbled.

“Can’t this wait until later?” Tsukishima yawned groggily.

“Um, it’s about the future of my podcast but fine, I guess worry about your stomachs,” Kuroo pouted. Kenma and Tsukishima looked at him blankly before heading to the door. “Mean!” Kuroo overtook them, standing slightly in front of the door.

“Okay, fine but please make it quick,” Kenma repeated.

“Okay, so just to fill Tsukki in. I’ve been contacted by someone interested in distributing my podcast on a bigger platform, one that reaches listeners internationally.”

“Whoa,” Tsukishima blinked, finally seeming awake. “That’s big.”

“Right?”

“Except he’s contemplating whether or not he’ll leave Bird’s Nest which I think he should do,” Kenma emphasized. “It’s literally time for you to ‘leave the nest.’”

“How are you still so sassy in the morning?” Kuroo sighed.

“That’s a great idea! It’s your big chance,” Tsukishima added. “When do you need to let them know?”

“Later tonight, actually. But I’ve made my decision and I think it’s for the best that I finally left Bird’s Nest,” he said confidently. Only, just as he said so, Bokuto and Akaashi opened the door behind him and stepped into the room. Kuroo saw the look of surprise and disbelief in Bokuto’s eyes as he turned around.

“Bo—”

“You’re… leaving Bird’s Nest?” he said slowly.

“I-I was going to tell you, actually,” Kuroo stammered. “But—”

“You _promised_ you would stay,” Bokuto interrupted him. The wave of hurt emotions on his face made Kuroo instinctively back away as he searched for what to say. “Back then when Nobu-san was our manager and everyone else I worked with since the beginning were walking away, you promised me you would stay.”

“Bokuto, please…” Akaashi tried to hold him back but to no avail.

“It’s an offer for his podcast to be more widely distributed,” Tsukishima spoke up. “It’s a great opportunity for Kuroo to be able to further Screams On-Screen.”

“And where does that leave me? All by myself again with a diner that I had to run since I was barely twenty?” Bokuto argued. All of a sudden, Kuroo remembered the Bokuto from years ago: the slowly fading smile from his face as he surveyed the empty diner, all the nights he spent handing flyers to people walking past, him endlessly mopping floors and wiping tables.

“The diner is already famous enough, you can just hire brand new people to help,” Tsukishima countered. “You’re okay with Hinata and Kageyama leaving for their training camp, why not Kuroo?”

“M-maybe I can balance doing both?” he finally spoke up. “It’s just going to be a little extra work now and then.”

“No!” Tsukishima exclaimed. “You’re barely keeping up with doing both as it is. Just because you’re in love with him doesn’t mean you have to strain yourself with working so hard.”

The room was silent for a beat and Kuroo saw Tsukishima clap a hand to his mouth. All Kuroo could think about was how touched he was that Tsukishima cared that much for him. And then he turned around to find Bokuto, this time, looking shocked. Akaashi licked their lips uncomfortably.

“You… you were in love with me?” Bokuto repeated. Kuroo swallowed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Yeah, I have for quite a while. I just didn’t want you to know because you’d be hurt if you found out,” Kuroo said.

“I’m, I’m sorry,” he suddenly heard Tsukishima apologize.

“Wait, Tsukki—”

“God, I’ll just leave first,” Tsukishima pushed away the hand that Kuroo reached at his shoulder before leaving through the door. Kuroo groaned and ran a hand through his hair.

“Okay, we’ve come to some misunderstandings right now and we’ll have all the time later to talk things out,” Akaashi said, breaking the silence. “However, we need to be at the venue in less than an hour so if you can, save it for later.”

“Okay, I can do that,” Kuroo sucked in a deep breath and nodded.

“Yeah,” Bokuto agreed, half-heartedly, tossing a sideways glance at Kuroo.

There couldn’t have been a worse time for such a misunderstanding to happen. All morning, while they were all getting ready, Bokuto was quiet and barely paid attention to Kuroo. And what’s worse, Tsukishima was nowhere to be found, not even with Yamaguchi looking for him. If it weren’t for the looming competition, Kuroo would have put down everything just to look for him. “It’s okay, Tsukki will come,” Yamaguchi reassured him right before they all left for the new venue where the competition would take place. He almost didn’t notice the security guards asking him to step aside. Kuroo tried his best to calm down all throughout the period when the stage was being set up and the contestants were being fitted with microphones. He was so distracted that he didn’t even notice one of the production assistants calling his name.

“Oh, sorry. What did you need?” he asked, coming to his senses.

“We’d like to just interview you really quickly for a behind-the-scenes clip,” the production assistant repeated.

“Ah, got it. I’ll just get Bokuto—”

“No need! Just you. We kind of want to focus on individual contestants now that we have longer running time,” he smiled.

“I see. Sure,” Kuroo nodded plastering on a smile as he followed behind the production assistant into a hallway and into an elevator before heading off down another hallway with rows of similar-looking doors.

“It will just take a couple of minutes,” he promised, stopping by one of the rooms and opening the door. Kuroo nodded, hoping that he could provide good footage for the interview, when he looked up to find that he was not in an interview room with cameras and a set but what appeared to be a supply closet. Something was very wrong.

“Hey wait—”

The production assistant threw him back into the room, which was quite easy since they had bodybuilder-type muscles, and slammed the door shut, locking Kuroo in a dark, empty room with no one knowing where he went and no one to help him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a cliffhanger!! mwahahahaha!! i wanted this to have a little bit of everything, especially the tiniest hint of kidnapping and sabotage. will kuroo get his way out in time for the competition to start? or will bird's nest's chances of winning be compromised? find out in the next chapter!


	12. a flat earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by: the Power of Friendship (pt. 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whelp, here it is. the 'last' chapter before the two epilogues. tbh it's been a wild ride esp since i never expected for this fic to be this long (in terms of word count and how much time i put into it) but like seeing the list of chapters growing through the weeks was surreal and now here we are at the end, even tho i kind of don't want it to end. 
> 
> but yeah, i really hope you guys like this chapter. i actually edited this a bit more than my other chapters because of all the action that happens and i really hope it came out the way i wanted it to.

“No sign of him?”

“No,” Akaashi shook their head as Bokuto’s face fell. They looked at the others who had gathered around a small area near the stage.

“None of us have our phones with us either and Kuroo gave his at the security guard entrance too,” Kenma said.

“You don’t think—”

“Kuroo wouldn’t do that,” Kenma quickly interrupted Bokuto.

“Great, first Tsukki and now Kuroo-san,” Yamaguchi sighed. Akaashi bit their lip as they vividly remembered what Daishou had said to them a few days ago. ‘Could this be what he meant? Would he really stoop this low?’ they thought.

“Excuse me, you have ten minutes left before we have to start,” one of the production assistants said, appearing by the door.

“But one of your contestants is _missing,_ ” Bokuto exclaimed. “Can’t you contact any of your other production assistants or, I don’t know, check some security footage?”

“Sir, we run a Cooking Show, not an illegal operation,” the assistant sighed before looking sympathetically at them. “Look, off the record, I’m vouching for your team to win. If you can find a replacement for Kuroo-san, maybe I can talk it over with our production head.”

“That—”

“Thank you. That would be enough,” Akaashi nodded, smiling gratefully as the assistant left. They turned to Bokuto. “I know that things are incredibly hard right now, but you have a contest to win so leave finding Kuroo to us. In the meantime, someone will have to replace him.”

“Hinata can stand in,” Kageyama spoke up suddenly.

“What? Me?” Hinata squeaked.

“Yeah, you’ve been working in the kitchens with Bokuto for months. You should know your way around,” Kageyama said.

“That could work,” Bokuto nodded seriously.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Hinata waved his hands. “That still doesn’t mean I could help Bokuto-senpai win in the _final round of a cooking competition._ I-It’s too risky! I’ll probably drop something or burn Bokuto-senpai’s hand or—”

“Hinata,” Kageyama grabbed him by the shoulders. “You’ll do fine. You’re the quickest learner I know.”

“Yeah, and you’ve been catching up pretty well,” Bokuto said encouragingly. “Please, Hinata. Right now, you’re our only hope.” Hinata visibly swallowed but Akaashi could tell that he just needed one more push to be fully convinced. They were about to step in when Kenma approached Hinata.

“You can do it, Shouyo,” he said simply. And yet, because of how everyone knew that Kenma was the most rational one out of all of them, Hinata believed him completely.

“Alright,” he said, relaxed and with a determined look in his eyes. “I’ll do it.”

“Thank you,” Bokuto grinned.

“Now come on, let’s get you two ready,” Akaashi nodded, pushing the two of them into the backroom where the other contestants were. They spent what little time they had trying to calm Hinata down and prevent him from visiting the bathroom five times. Finally, they had a minute left before Bokuto and Hinata had to go up.

“I have something I want to give you both,” Akaashi cleared their throat before presenting Bokuto and Hinata with matching bandanas that had the diner’s logo embroidered on it.

“Whoa! It’s just like what those really cool chefs in anime wear!” Hinata exclaimed, holding his up excitedly.

“Is this what you were secretly working on?” Bokuto raised an eyebrow at Akaashi.

“Yeah. I wish we had a less stressful occasion for me to give you these, though,” they said.

“Thanks. Just you being here and doing this is more than enough,” Bokuto wrapped his arms tightly around Akaashi. “Wish me luck this time, okay?” he whispered.

“You don’t need luck,” Akaashi whispered back before pulling away.

“Good luck Bokuto-senpai! Hinata!” Yachi waved at them both as they lined up to enter the stage. Immediately after they had left, Yachi tugged lightly at Akaashi’s sleeve.

“I didn’t say this earlier because I wasn’t sure, but earlier, I saw Kuroo-san leaving with one of the production assistants,” she said.

“I knew it. Daishou had said something to me the other day and right now, I’m suspecting foul play,” Akaashi said under their breath. “Do you see that production assistant right now?”

“No, I definitely would have remembered them because they looked much bulkier than the others. And they didn’t have any of the headset equipment that production assistants usually wear,” Yachi said. “They struck me as off when I saw them talking to Kuroo but, I figured it was just my nerves getting to me again so I didn’t say anything.”

“Don’t ever doubt your intuition, Yachi,” Akaashi said seriously. “But if that’s the case, it’s likely that Kuroo-san is still somewhere in this building.”

“I’ll get the others to go look for him,” Yachi nodded determinedly. Akaashi felt their pride swell for her. “Daishou-san might notice something if he sees you missing but he won’t suspect me of a thing. And besides, Bokuto-san still needs you.”

“Got it,” Akaashi nodded. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

“I will,” Yachi grinned, excitement shining in her eyes, before turning away and leaving.

…

Yamaguchi felt himself swallow when he heard the audience murmuring about Kuroo, ‘the hot chef in heels’, being replaced by Hinata, ‘the small guy right there.’ Thanks to the switch in members, Bird’s Nest lost the Audience Vote prize they were supposed to win which went to Hattori Diner, of all other contestants. “Man, it’s like everything is against us today,” Yamaguchi groaned. Worst of all, Tsukishima was still gone. When he heard the whole story from Kuroo, he had an inkling of an idea as to why his best friend suddenly disappeared. In fact, he should have been able to notice before. Tsukishima had liked Kuroo all this time and thought he had hurt him.

“Kuroo’s still not picking up,” Kenma muttered. To Yamaguchi’s surprise, he was holding an actual cellular phone that was hidden pretty well in the huge sleeves of his jacket.

“You smuggled your phone in?” Kageyama said incredulously.

“I’ve gotten good at it ever since my parents began confiscating my phone during family gatherings,” Kenma explained without looking up. “It feels like such a scripted way to disappear. He doesn’t have his phone, everybody else would know where he’s supposed to be, and not to mention, Bird’s Nest has a pretty much straight shot to the finish line.”

“That’s because it is scripted.”

The three of them turned around to see Yachi behind them. “Akaashi and I have a feeling that it’s foul play on the part of Hattori Diner.”

“That’s not too hard to rule out either,” Kageyama said.

“I remember the production assistant who talked to Kuroo before he left. I think he should still be here in this building,” Yachi added.

“Alright, we’ll go find him,” Yamaguchi nodded. “Kenma, you stay here.”

“I agree,” Kenma nodded. “Here, take my phone,” he added, showing his passcode to Yamaguchi before handing it to him.

“Thanks. We’ll be back before the competition ends,” Yamaguchi pocketed the phone, nodding at Kageyama and Yachi before heading outside to a lobby area on the fifth floor. Outside, he used the phone to quickly text Tsukishima.

“We’re wasting time. He probably won’t even come or pick up,” Kageyama groaned.

“Trust me, he’ll come running back here for Kuroo,” Yamaguchi grinned at the confused look on Kageyam and Yachi’s faces. And to prove his point, after a few quick texts, he got a call from none other than Tsukishima himself.

…

Tsukishima had messed up, royally messed up, in such a way that he never thought he would. It wasn’t like him to let his emotions get the better of him and letting them affect whatever he said. Needless to say, he still couldn’t help but step in when Bokuto had Kuroo backed into a corner and Kuroo couldn’t defend himself. ‘I’m really fucking in love with him, aren’t I?’ he thought, sitting on the edge of the bed in the hotel room. He had disappeared right after his slip-up only to come back when everyone had left to pack his stuff and head home first.

The worst part about the whole thing was that Kuroo didn’t even look mad when Tsukishima had accidentally blurted out that he had been in love with Bokuto. How couldn’t he have gotten mad at Tsukishima? But then again, Kuroo was always too nice to everyone. Tsukishima could only hope that that niceness would be enough for them to be friends again after everything that happened, and that he would be able to accept that.

Just before he was about to leave the room, his phone suddenly buzzed with a flurry of texts from Kenma, which was weird since Kenma had barely texted him five times since they’ve known each other, but was weirder was that it was in all-caps. Curious, Tsukishima opened his messenger to read the series of texts.

[from: kenma]

(12:04 pm) _TSUKKI_

(12:04 pm) _EMERGENCY_

(12:04 pm) _IT’S KUROO_

That’s all it took for Tsukishima to dial what was probably Yamaguchi texting him. He picked up on the first ring and immediately Tsukishima asked what was going on.

“Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but, we think Kuroo’s been kidnapped,” Yamaguchi explained.

“This better not be a joke…”

“Seriously! He’s supposed to be out cooking with Bokuto right now but he’s missing. You know as well as I do that he would never miss this competition in a million years!”

“…Shit,” Tsukishima headed out of the room. “I’m headed there right now. Did you get anyone to replace Kuroo?”

“We have Hinata and we’re crossing our fingers. Yachi and I will go ahead and investigate first. Kageyama’s waiting for you outside the stage area.”

“Got it.”

“And Tsukki?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t beat yourself up too much over what you said. Find Kuroo first. Self-pity later,” Yamaguchi said before hanging up.

…

“He should be on his way, which might take a while depending on whether or not Tsukki’s going to let his legs run on sheer willpower instead of his stamina,” Yamaguchi said, pocketing his phone. He turned around to find Yachi staring at what appeared to be that Daishou guy talking to a very, muscular-looking man.

“What is it?” Kageyama prodded her shoulder.

“It’s the production assistant I saw talking to Kuroo-san earlier,” she whispered back with wide eyes. “If, maybe if we follow them, it will lead us straight to him.”

“Or, we can get something out of them that can prove they were behind some foul play. It could get them disqualified!” Yamaguchi exclaimed. “We have to follow them.”

“Go, you two. I’ll wait for Tsukishima and search the lower floors,” Kageyama flashed a thumbs-up.

“Got it. See you soon,” Yachi nodded, taking Yamaguchi’s hand and following behind from a distance while Daishou and the production assistant headed down a hallway. It felt as if they were in a super-secret spy mission of sorts that he had always wanted to be in and tried to focus on the task at hand. He and Yachi followed behind quietly only for them to watch the people they were trailing enter an elevator.

“Damn, there must be dozens of floors in this building,” Yamaguchi groaned as they stood in front of the elevator. He turned to see Yachi’s face scrunched up, adorably so, in concentration. “What are you thinking?”

“Before we left, do you remember the host’s opening remarks?”

Yamaguchi racked his brain. “They were acknowledging a sponsor for the venue, right?”

“Yeah. KN Corporation,” Yachi said. “Borrow the phone.” Yamaguchi handed it to her and Yachi quickly searched something online. “I was right! Hattori Diner is also under KN Corporation. Which means…” she paused and looked at the floor directory on the side of the elevator.

“Here! The sixteenth floor is their main office in the building,” she grinned.

“You’re amazing! That’s my girl,” Yamaguchi grinned kissing her forehead as he pressed the elevator button.

“Maybe I should switch majors now, huh?” Yachi teased.

“I support you either way.”

A short while later, they arrived at the sixteenth floor just in time to see Daishou still talking with the fake production assistant along one of the hallways. Yamaguchi quickly ducked behind a wall and silently communicated with Yachi to video the entire conversation on Kenma’s phone. With his ear pressed as close to the edge of the wall as he could get, Yamaguchi caught a few snatches of their conversation that confirmed his suspicions.

“…Did you lock him up?”

“Yes sir. I used one of the supply closets in the basement. There’s no way he’ll be getting out until the end of the competition.”

“Perfect. Now that win is as good as ours.”

Yamaguchi exchanged a look with Yachi and she nodded, showing the phone where she got everything on video. The two of them crept back to the elevator, quietly but not fast enough, because just as they were a few feet away from their escape, Yamaguchi heard Daishou yell: “Hey! You two!”

Yamaguchi swallowed and turned around to find Daishou pointing at them. “Quickly, quickly!” he hissed under his breath, slamming the button of the elevator. His heart fell to the pit of his stomach when he saw that it was still coming from the topmost floor.

“Stop right there!” the fake production assistant called after them, already running now.

“Come on, we need to make a break for it!” Yachi tugged his sleeve, pulling him to the Fire Exit. They burst through the doors, stopping for a while to bar the door with a nearby mop, before taking off down the stairs.

“This is ending up to be way more intense than I thought it would be!” Yamaguchi yelled as he and Yachi sprinted down the stairs. They could hear the fake production assistant thumping on the door above. Yamaguchi closed his eyes to pray that the door would hold, only to hear that it had burst open.

“Faster!” Yachi squealed, practically running down the stairs four at a time while holding onto the railing.

“There, in here!” Yamaguchi yelled, opening another Fire Exit door a few floors down, hoping they would lose their pursuers that way. The two of them burst into a hallway full of office workers, ducking and making their way through them, until they reached a set of elevators. Yachi slammed the button and gave a sigh of relief when the doors quickly opened. Once inside, she quickly dialed Tsukishima.

“Hello? Tsukishima-san? We heard from Daishou. Kuroo’s being kept in a supply closet in the basement!”

…

As it turns out, Tsukishima was too busy trying not to pass out while he sprinted to the venue, which was hard to do especially since the last time he actually had to do some running was when he was still in the volleyball club during high school. To make matters worse, leaving his backpack in the room had completely slipped his mind and he had no choice but to bring it along with him all the way. By the time he was there, he felt himself definitely about to collapse and in desperate need for a nap.

“What took you so long?” Kageyama pressed as Tsukishima approached.

“Shut…up,” he panted.

“Come on. Yamaguchi and Yachi are searching the top floors. Let’s start downstairs,” Kageyama said. “Unless, you still need to rest up?” he smirked.

“Get out of here,” Tsukishima glared as he straightened up and followed Kageyama as they took the elevator downstairs to the fourth floor. They searched the rooms that would possibly be used to kidnap Kuroo to no such luck before heading to the third.

“It’s going to take hours to find him at this rate,” Kageyama groaned as they waited for the elevator to come down. As soon as they got in, Tsukishima’s phone rang again and he picked it up immediately.

“Hello? Tsukishima-san? We heard from Daishou. Kuroo’s being kept in a supply closet in the basement!” Yachi’s voice came in, sounding breathless and panicked.

“We’re on it! What’s happening with you guys?” Tsukishima exclaimed.

“Daishou and the guy who kidnapped Kuroo spotted us. We’re hiding from them right now,” she explained. Tsukishima and Kageyama exchanged worried glances.

“Do you need us to help you out?” Kageyama asked.

“We’ll be alright. Just find Kuroo-san first.”

“Okay, text or call us if anything else happens.”

“Alright. Bye.”

With that, Tsukishima pressed the button going down to the Basement.

“Man, who would have thought this would turn out into a rescue mission, huh?” Kageyama said. Tsukishima couldn’t help but agree.

“You could say that again,” he snorted. But deep inside, he was worried sick about Kuroo. Tsukishima didn’t think that the people who kidnapped him would have been rough or manhandled him, especially if they just needed him out of the way so that Bird’s Nest wouldn’t win. He did know for sure that Kuroo would just be consumed with worry and probably guilt about not being able to participate in the last and most important round of the competition. Especially after the fight he had with Bokuto earlier.

‘Things couldn’t have had a worst, possible timing,’ he sighed, sprinting out as soon as the elevator doors opened. There was no one inside the basement and as tired as Tsukishima was, he stood in the middle of the floor and yelled “Kuroo!”

“Kuroo-senpai!” Kageyama yelled, much louder than him. The sound of their voices reverberated through the hallway as they called for Kuroo again. Tsukishima had the sinking feeling that maybe the info they received from Yachi was wrong, when he heard the sound of someone banging on a door, and what was unmistakably Kuroo’s voice calling his name.

…

Bokuto had never felt pressure quite like this and even felt naïve to think that yesterday night, everything was going well without a single wrong in the world and that the competition would simply go his way. And now, he was shocked with the news of Kuroo leaving and then the news of Kuroo having disappeared, all while trying to nail a stellar dish for the final competition with Hinata, who happened to be the type of person to crumble under pressure, by his side.

“Ahh!! Ow! Hot! Hot!” Hinata suddenly yelped after accidentally touching a pot without wearing any potholders.

“Are you okay?” Bokuto asked, dropping his knife to quickly switch on a faucet for Hinata to put his hand under.

“I’m so sorry. I keep messing up,” Hinata sniffed, gritting his teeth through the pain.

“Relax, don’t be so hard on yourself. You’ve suddenly been put on the spot so it’s normal for you to feel like this,” Bokuto patted his shoulder. Hinata bit his lip and nodded.

“I’ll be okay. Go back to what you need to do,” he managed to smile.

“Okay,” Bokuto gave a slight nod and quickly returned to slicing a whole lot of green onions. From where he was, he could hear the show host, Oikawa, talking to the cameras about how inexperienced Kuroo’s replacement was and speculating on whether this was going to be Bird’s Nest’s downfall.

‘As if I’m going to go down that easily,’ Bokuto gritted his teeth. He was Bokuto Koutarou. He started working in Bird’s Nest, the most best-selling diner in the neighborhood, ever since he was in high school. He waited tables dozens of tables and stacks of plates almost as tall as he was almost every single day. He had chopped a sack of onions in one sitting. He learned how to cook the diner’s signature dish with his eyes practically closed before he even graduated high school. He had worked under a shitty manager for years and still stuck around to become the actual owner at the age of twenty. How he was today was practically forged under pressure.

But thinking about all of that somehow led him back to remembering Kuroo. Ever since high school, Bokuto had remembered Kuroo as a regular customer, especially on Friday nights. After seeing him come in a couple times, they eventually came around to becoming friends simply because they were the same age, despite the fact that they had very different lives. Kuroo had always been a movie nerd and Bokuto found it funny the way he seemed to speak in an entirely different language. He found it curious how Kuroo still made time to visit the diner even when he was in college or the fact that he never saw himself as superior to Bokuto because of it. Bokuto was even more surprised when out of the blue, Kuroo decided to work at Bird’s Nest. And now, he knew why.

‘He had always been there for me, ever since the beginning,’ Bokuto found himself remembering. ‘And yet, I never questioned whether there was something he wanted to do besides work at the diner.’ He felt guilty to the pit of his stomach for saying such harsh things to Kuroo earlier and now, all he wanted to do was to apologize.

…

After trying out all the possible things he could think of to get out of the supply closet, Kuroo eventually came to the conclusion that movies were essentially movies and pretty much useless. He tried to pick the lock with a paper clip only for him to just fiddle it around uselessly. He tried to open the vent overhead to crawl through it only to find that he could only fit his head and arm. Eventually he resorted to just yelling and thumping on the door only to give up with that and slump uselessly to the floor with his head in his hands.

“Bokuto won’t forgive me for this,” he groaned, worrying about whether or not Bird’s Nest was going to be disqualified for this or if they somehow found a way for them to still be in the competition. Part of him wondered whether anyone was looking for him and hoped that he’d be found sooner rather than later.

‘I wonder what’s going on with Tsukishima,’ he ended up thinking, especially since the enclosed space reminded him of last night when they hung out in the hotel bathroom of all places. ‘He must be as guilty as I feel now about what he said. Not that it really matters at this point.’ It made the whole thing a bit awkward, even if it did kind of defuse the situation, but it didn’t matter so much in the scheme of things. Bokuto was with Akaashi now and while Kuroo didn’t want to discount those years of him liking Bokuto, he had moved on from it already.

If only he didn’t have to be locked in a stupid supply closet.

“Kuroo!” he heard someone calling from a distance.

“Great, now I’m hearing voices too,” he groaned.

“Kuroo-senpai!” he heard again, this time the voice sounded like it belonged to Kageyama. He would know, especially after all the time he and Kageyama worked together, calling orders from opposite ends of a very crowded diner.

“Kuroo!” This time, it was much closer, and unmistakably Tsukishima’s voice. Could it be? Kuroo stood up and pressed his ear against the door and sure enough, he could hear footsteps echoing down the hallway. He banged on the door, trying to create as much noise as possible.

“Tsukki! I’m here!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, despite the fact that he was pretty hoarse from shouting earlier.

“Kuroo!” Tsukishima called again. He could hear the sound of footsteps approaching and then a knocking on the door.

“Tsukki! I’m here! You found me!” Kuroo grinned, pounding both of his fists on the door.

“Shit, we don’t have the key,” Tsukishima cursed from the other side.

“We could kick it down if you’re up for it,” Kageyama said.

“Okay. Kuroo, stand back a bit.”

“Got it,” Kuroo said, backing away from the door. “The door’s pretty strong so it might take a—”

“3…2…1—” The door flew open on its hinges to reveal Tsukishima and Kageyama standing by the door frame. Before Kuroo could compliment their door-kicking skills, Tsukishima rushed into the room.

“Did they hurt you? Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes searching Kuroo’s hands and face. Kuroo felt the corner of his lip twist up.

“I’m alright,” he said softly, before remembering that now was not the time to be infatuate with Tsukishima. “How about Bokuto? Are we disqualified?” he asked.

“Hinata’s replacing you and we just found out that Daishou was behind all this,” Kageyama answered. “Come on, we should be back for the last few minutes of the competition.” With that, they took off and left the room, running down the basement to the elevators when they dinged open and two men, who had the same body build as the fake production assistant that shoved Kuroo into the supply closet, and who he now suspected were Daishou’s evil henchmen of sorts.

“Sir, we have three people in the basement right now,” one of them spoke into a walkie-talkie. Kuroo felt Tsukishima pull his arm.

“Come on, the Fire Exit!” They ran back down the opposite side of the hallway and pushed open the Fire Exit door. Kuroo was running up the stairs three at a time, very thankful that he was proficient in wearing stilettos and feeling very much like Catwoman. While they were climbing they heard the sound of rapid footsteps from upstairs before running into Yamaguchi and Yachi, who both looked like they just ran a marathon.

“You guys!” Yachi yelled.

“They found us! We’re being chased!” Yamaguchi and Tsukishima chorused. Kuroo looked ahead to find the same fake production assistant from earlier come down the stairs while the evil henchmen who had been following them appeared at the stairwell. They were trapped from both sides.

…

“Well, fuck,” Tsukishima sighed, very much spent of his energy as he glanced from evil henchman to evil henchman.

“You could say that again,” Kageyama muttered. The one chasing Yachi and Yamaguchi stepped forward, closing them in further.

“Alright, there’s no way out. Just hand over the phone and we’ll leave you alone. It’s too late for you to get back to the competition anyway,” he said, holding his hand out to Yachi who was indeed, clutching a phone to her chest. Yamaguchi instinctively stepped in front of her.

“You’re going to have to go through me first,” he said. As much as Tsukishima respected his intentions and praised how heroic he looked, Yamaguchi still had noodle arms and was nothing compared to the evil henchman in front of him. Tsukishima scanned for openings when Kageyama pressed beside him.

“At my signal, get ready to run. We’re just one floor lower than where the cooking competition is,” he whispered.

“Please don’t do anything stupid,” Tsukishima sighed.

“Too late,” Kageyama grinned before yelling loudly, which was apparently the signal, and running forward to tackle the evil henchman near Yamaguchi. He fell to the stairs and Kageyama quickly got behind him, trapping him in a headlock.

“Run!” Yamaguchi cried, grabbing Yachi’s hand to sprint forward while the guy was incapacitated. Tsukishima and Kuroo were about to when Tsukishima felt hands grabbing his backpack, pulling him away. He quickly shrugged of the pack, using it to push against the guy who grabbed him, when his friend, in turn, caught Tsukishima by the wrist. Kuroo turned around, saw him struggling, and yelled “Tsukki, duck!”

Instinctively, Tsukishima followed suit. The next thing that happened seemed to unfold in slow-motion. Kuroo planted his right, stilettoed foot on a stair and spun his body to deliver a perfect spin-kick. “Prepare for four inches of pain!” he yelled as the tip of his toe connected with the side of the evil henchman’s face. The motion propelled him sideward until he hit the wall along the stairwell and collapsed. Tsukishima felt his mouth fall open. Never in a million years did he think he’d meet a guy who could not only walk or run, but deliver a perfect spin-kick on stilettos, or say the really dumb tagline he had made up.

“Haha! Did you see that Tsukki? I said that really dumb tagline you made up,” Kuroo grinned, positively giddy from showing off his move. The smile on his face reminded Tsukishima of the pictures he saw of Kuroo growing up back at his house.

‘God, I’m so in love with you,’ he thought, staring at Kuroo. Only, when he saw Kuroo’s expression change, he realized that once again, the thing he was thinking of actually came out of his mouth.

“Wait, you _love_ me?” Kuroo asked, looking completely caught off-guard.

“I…uh, well,” Tsukishima stammered, adjusting his glasses as he felt his cheeks turn red.

“Because I kind of love you too!” Kuroo suddenly blurted out. Tsukishima never thought he’d see Kuroo look embarrassed, also he never thought his first time confessing to someone would be in a stairwell after having to fight off evil henchmen.

“Guys!” Kageyama yelled, calling their attention. “Um, while you were busy being gay, I still have this dude in a chokehold so could you please get a move on and discuss your feelings later?” Tsukishima looked at the evil henchman that was still trying to struggle out of Kageyama’s grip. Yamaguchi and Yachi were standing at the top of the stairwell and had also heard and witnessed everything. Tsukishima caught his best friend’s eye and Yamaguchi gave an awkward thumbs-up.

“Right. Let’s get you to the venue,” Tsukishima nodded before he, Kuroo, Yamaguchi, and Yachi left and exited the stairwell through the Fire Exit. Kageyama followed a little after. “He’s still alive, isn’t he?” Tsukishima found himself asking as they ran to the audience section.

“Yeah,” Kageyama shrugged. From a distance, Tsukishima could still hear Oikawa announcing that there were still twenty minutes left.

“God, I hope Bokuto’s okay,” Kuroo sighed. Kageyama shook his head.

“I hope that dumbass Hinata’s okay.”

…

Hinata was not, in fact, okay, Kenma thought that as he watched him shake some salt into a bowl, only for the cover of the saltshaker to come off and for salt to come spilling out into the said bowl. ‘He’ll have to restart that too,’ Kenma inwardly sighed as he watched Hinata pick up a fresh bowl, shaking his head all the while. It seemed as if the pressure wasn’t disappearing anytime soon. Bokuto, surprisingly, had still kept a level head throughout the entire time they’ve been cooking and their yakisoba dish was well on the way. Only, Kenma also knew that at this point, it wasn’t good enough to win the entire competition. One of the great things about Kuroo was that his ideas and Bokuto’s were almost always in-sync. They needed one more push of a great idea to work with and possibly win the whole thing.

Taking Kuroo was definitely a huge blow for the competition, and for everyone’s peace of mind. Kenma almost wished he could see his best friend strutting around the kitchen in his stupidly tall stilettos again and for Hinata to be cheering loud enough for the two of them by his side.

“Ahh!! Not again,” Hinata groaned as he burned the garlic he was trying to brown in the pan.

“Stay strong, Shouyo,” Kenma found himself saying out loud as he gripped the metal railings of the balcony. He hadn’t sat down since the cooking started.

“It seems that our new contestant from Bird’s Nest is running into yet another problem,” Oikawa announced, beckoning the cameramen to follow him to Bird’s Nest’s table before proceeding to interview an already flustered Hinata. “Hinata-san, right? How do you feel about the sudden change with you being Bokuto’s new partner?”

“Um, I—”

“How do you feel about the amount of pressure on your shoulders at the moment with having to cook in front of a live audience for the last round of the competition?”

“It’s, uh—”

“Hey, we need to focus a bit, so could you leave him alone for now?” Bokuto asked.

“One last,” Oikawa grinned. “What happened and where in the world is Kuroo-san right now?”

Kenma could clearly see how hard Hinata’s hands were shaking as he pounded some fresh garlic to fry again. He remembered, from what Bokuto had said before, how capable and quick Hinata turned out to be in the kitchen. ‘If only he could calm down and get that mindset back again,’ Kenma thought. And what’s more, he wanted to see Hinata shine today and prove everyone – the audience members, the fellow contestants, the host – wrong.

As if something else had overcome him, Kenma gripped the metal bar of the railing even tighter, tighter than he was holding it before, and leaned forward. “YOU CAN DO IT SHOUYO!” he yelled, his voice much larger than the size of his body and loud enough to make the audience hush and be caught on camera. Instinctively, some of the cameramen turned to Kenma in the audience but he was too busy staring at Hinata to notice. Surprise was written all over his face, and as if a switch had been flicked, and gave way to a determined smile as he looked right at Kenma and nodded his head.

“Excuse me. I would love to answer your questions right now but we only have a bit of time left to finish our dish,” he asserted, even bowing respectfully in front of the cameras. Oikawa, who appeared to have been caught off-guard, cleared his throat and faced the cameras.

“Well, you heard it folks. Time to let Hinata-san and—”

“BOKUTOOOO!!”

…

“I’ve posted the video online under my account and tagged Tokyo’s Best Diner,” Yachi explained as they finally reached the door leading into where the audience section was. “It should get some attention in a few minutes, if we’re lucky, and bring attention to the foul play that happened.”

“I could also make a grand entrance,” Kuroo grinned, feeling the adrenaline coursing through his brain after the flawless spin-kick he managed to do and the fact that Tsukishima said that he loved him but for the sake of Getting Things Done, he pushed that conversation to a later agenda.

“That could work,” Yamaguchi shrugged. And with that, they all entered the audience section with Kuroo walking ahead. He was thinking of something creative or sassy to say knowing that the guy who instructed his capture was probably watching or keeping tabs on him. Something like ‘Miss me, bitch?’ or ‘It takes more than _that_ to hold down Kuroo’. Just when he had decided on what to say, he, and pretty much everyone inside, heard someone yell “YOU CAN DO IT SHOUYO”. Kuroo felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he turned around to see that all his friends were surprised as well.

“That sounded like…”

“Kenma,” Tsukishima blinked. Everyone turned to find Kenma practically bent over the railings.

“It’s the prophesied Kenma Scream!” Kuroo said excitedly.

“The what now?” Kageyama asked.

“I had this dream of Kenma screaming and it felt like an omen for something big about to happen,” Kuroo explained. He went over to another set of railings along a line of seats just below where Kenma was and yelled at the top of his lungs. “BOKUTOOOOOO!!”

“What now?” Oikawa groaned as the cameramen, who had initially focused on Kenma, then at Hinata, turned back to the audience to film Kuroo. “Wait, is that, Kuroo-san?”

“KUROO!” Bokuto yelled back. Kuroo waved at him.

“What happened to you and why are you over there?” Oikawa asked on his mic.

“THAT DAISHOU GUY HAD ME LOCKED UP IN A SUPPLY CLOSET!” Kuroo yelled.

“ARE YOU OKAY?” Bokuto asked.

“I AM! NOW GO AND WIN FOR US,” Kuroo grinned. Bokuto nodded determinedly, looking at Hinata, and high-fiving each other.

“Well, that’s one way to announce yourself,” Tsukishima said.

“Can we go back to our seats now? Is it over? I want to sit down,” Kageyama whined.

“I think we deserve some sitting down,” Yachi nodded. With that, they all quickly made their way to their seats and found Kenma slumped in his, watching dazedly. He managed to wave and croak a ‘hello’ when Kuroo came in to sit beside him.

“That scream seems to have taken a lot out of you,” Kuroo grinned, wrapping an arm around his friend. Kenma gratefully leaned his head on his shoulder.

“It…has…” he rasped. “I can feel myself getting a fever.”

“Rest up, buddy.”

As much as Kuroo wanted to rest too after his ordeal, he couldn’t help but sit at the edge of his seat as he watched Bokuto and Hinata cook. According to what little Kenma had said and Kuroo translated for the rest of them, Hinata had made more than a couple errors due to the pressure of having to suddenly cook and was just about to crack when Kenma’s Scream brought him back to his senses. The challenge for the last stage of the competition was to make a noodle dish, something that worried Kuroo especially since the only noodle dish they served at the diner was yakisoba. Bokuto had wanted to try cooking ramen for some time but it was just hard to do when they had so many other best-selling dishes.

And yet, Hinata was performing more than well. At work, Kuroo did often notice that Hinata had begun to pick up speed when it came to cooking orders and had almost caught up to Bokuto. Right now, he was pretty much an orange-haired blur that even caught the attention of some of the other contestants.

“Hinata’s looking great. We might be able to turn this around,” Yachi cheered. Beside Kuroo, opposite where Kenma sat, Tsukishima was also on the edge of his seat. ‘Just like when we watch movies,’ Kuroo thought with a smile just as Tsukishima caught it with a sideways glance.

“What?”

“It’s nothing,” Kuroo smiled again and shook his head. He felt Tsukishima adjust his glasses again beside him.

There were about ten minutes left for everyone to finish up their dishes when Kuroo caught Hinata conversing about something with Bokuto. It seemed like an idea, since Bokuto appeared to mull the thought over before nodding and grinning.

“Hmm, seems like Bird’s Nest is about to try something different with only _ten minutes left_ before they have to present their dish,” Oikawa announced. Kuroo watched as Hinata whipped up what appeared to be tempura batter, which he then poured into a squeezable bottle before using it to pour strands of batter into a pan full of hot oil. By his side, Bokuto was frying eggs. Finally, with a few minutes left to spare, they assembled the new components on their yakisoba dish, and Kuroo realized what they were trying to recreate.

“And time! Step away from your plates, chefs!” Oikawa announced as the buzzer sounded. Bokuto dusted their plate with a bit of crushed seaweed flakes and backed away before high-fiving Hinata and hugging him tightly. The judges circled all the tables and Kuroo stood up, much to Kenma’s displeasure, to look over the railing. Bokuto and Hinata’s dish looked different from everyone else’s. The yakisoba, which looked just like the regular yakisoba they served at the diner, was topped with the fried tempura batter that, from deep-frying, looked like a tangled mess of crispy noodles. The finishing touch was the perfect, golden fried egg.

“It looks like a bird nest!” the judges exclaimed as they saw the dish.

“Well, you can probably guess what the dish is called then,” Bokuto grinned. “The idea was all thanks to this guy,” he wrapped an arm around Hinata.

“I thought I should at least come up with a good idea after all the trouble I caused Bokuto-senpai earlier,” Hinata said sheepishly.

“It’s a brilliant idea!” one of the judges said. “Are you also a regular employee at Bird’s Nest?” he asked Hinata.

“I work part-time. But my dream is to be a professional volleyball player!” Hinata grinned. The judges laughed good-naturedly.

“Well, time to dig in,” they said. Bokuto advised them to break or crumble the nest, egg and all, and mix it with the rest of the noodles. The judges followed suit and each took a bite.

“It’s…delicious! A whole new way to eat yakisoba,” the female judge smiled. “The fried tempura batter and the egg add new textures and flavors to the noodles.”

“The fact that the presentation adds to the overall flavor and experience of eating the dish is very creative,” another judge beside her added. “Well done you two.”

The audience clapped and cheer. “Well done you two!” Kuroo called after them. Bokuto and Hinata both waved at their friends.

Finally, the results were going to be announced. “Oh my gosh, I can’t look. I’m too nervous!” Yachi squealed covering her face with her hands.”

“It’s gotta be them! I’m betting my entire hard drive of bad shark movies on it,” Yamaguchi exclaimed.

“In third place… Kitsune Diner!” Oikawa announced. After a few minutes of clapping, cheering, and capturing the happy, third-place winners, he moved to announce the next winners. “And for second place… Hattori Diner!”

“It’s just like last time!” Yamaguchi exclaimed. Hinata and Bokuto were looking at each other with wide eyes.

“However, due to recent developments we’ve discovered regarding foul play,” Oikawa said seriously. “This position shall be forfeit and awarded to Kitsune Diner. And for third place, we have… One More Round!”

The looks on the chefs from Hattori Diner were priceless as they clapped politely but glumly at the chefs who took their position, and the chefs from One More Round who were able to move up the ranks. “And finally,” Oikawa smiled at the cameras as everything quieted down. “For the winner of Tokyo’s Best Diner, once again, give it up for… Bird’s Nest!”

“YEAHHHH!” Kuroo yelled, jumping in place. On-stage, Bokuto caught his eye and pumped his fists up in the air.

“WE DID IT! WE DID IT!” he heard him holler. Without even caring for things like security or cameras, Kuroo bounded down to the stage to hug Bokuto. He felt Bokuto’s strong arms wrap around him.

“You did it Bokuto. You really did it,” Kuroo said in his ear.

“It’s thanks to you, Kuroo. _We_ did it,” Bokuto shook his head, grinning at him. “Also, I’m so sorry for reacting the way I did earlier. You’ve helped me so much the past few years and I just couldn’t imagine Bird’s Nest without my best friend.” Kuroo felt his eyes water at that.

“I’ll still be around if ever you need any help,” he smiled.

“I know. But I want you take up that offer for your podcast. You deserve that more than anything.”

“I do, don’t I?”

“Also, is it weird that I feel flattered that you liked me because…” Bokuto snickered. Kuroo sighed and mussed up his hair.

“You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” Suddenly, he felt a tug at his shirt and turned to find Hinata crying his eyes out.

“I-If w-we had l-lost b-because of me… I w-wouldn’t have forgiven myself,” he blubbered.

“It’s because of you that we won. Stop beating yourself up!” Bokuto exclaimed, patting Hinata’s hair.

“Bokuto!” Akaashi called out, running up to the stage as well. “Kuroo! You’re okay!” they chuckled wrapping their arms around both of them.

“Thanks for launching the rescue mission,” Kuroo laughed as he hugged Akaashi.

“Okay, Kuroo-san is enough but you guys aren’t allowed onstage,” they suddenly heard Oikawa say behind them.

“What’s going on?” Bokuto looked over to find their friends from the audience, even Kenma who was leaning on Tsukishima, near the stage.

“Please? Our friends are there,” Yamaguchi pleaded.

“Come on! Let them come!” Kuroo grinned waving his hand over. Oikawa looked to the judges who shrugged.

“Alright then,” Oikawa sighed. “It will be good for the camera.”

“Yes!” Kageyama grinned, bounding onto the stage to punch Hinata on the shoulder. “Good thing you got ahold of yourself back there, dumbass!”

“Hey! It wasn’t easy cooking here,” Hinata protested.

“Group hugs!” Yamaguchi yelled, pulling an escaping Tsukishima and Kenma in. Kuroo grinned as they all came in for the group hug. After everything they had gone through, today and ever since they had to remodel the diner months ago, it had all come together in one epic win for all of them. Kuroo found himself glancing over at Tsukishima, who seemed to be fighting a smile, and remembered that there was one last thing he had to take care of before the day ended.

The day was far from over, though They had to sign some documents for them to claim the prize money and other copyright and business stuff that neither Bokuto nor Kuroo fully understood but made them glad to have Akaashi with them. After that, they had to check out of their hotel room, ride the bus back to the diner, and throw a small celebration in that same diner. This time, it was Bokuto and Hinata who worked in the kitchens while Kuroo quickly called the agent who had contacted him about his podcast, who introduced himself as Yaku Morisuke, Avid Podcast Listener, to seal the deal.

As they ate the new menu item, Bird Nest Yakisoba, that Bokuto and Hinata recreated, Kuroo had the strangest feeling that he was on the pinnacle of a new part in his life and ready to jump forward. It’s as if he could feel the Earth rotating under his feet as it orbited around the Sun like a giant frisbee. After dinner ended and drinks were passed around, Kuroo caught Tsukishima heading out for air and followed behind. Outside, the air was as warm as it was in the diner since it was the middle of spring. Tsukishima was leaning against the wall, looking up at the sky with both hands in the pockets of the hoodie he always wore. It suddenly struck Kuroo then that Tsukishima was the most beautiful person he had ever met.

“I…had a feeling you would follow when I went out,” he spoke up when Kuroo walked up to lean against the wall beside him.

“Isn’t that why you went out in the first place?” Kuroo smirked.

“Maybe,” Tsukishima shrugged. Finally, he turned to look at Kuroo. “So.”

“So.”

“About earlier…” he began, paused, and adjusted his glasses again. “When… when did you decide that you…liked me?”

“You mean _loved_ you?” Kuroo emphasized, laughing at the embarrassed look on Tsukishima’s face. “You can say the l-word, you know? And to answer your question, I kind of realized like, last night?”

“Last _night?_ ” Tsukishima repeated. “You’re quick to act on your feelings.”

“I’m a Scorpio. Also, I didn’t want a repeat of last time to happen. Not that I feel bad about things not working out with Bokuto, which I was before, but—”

“Alright, I get it,” Tsukishima chuckled. “But, are you sure about it? Like, really sure?” he looked at Kuroo somewhat hopefully.

“Yes,” Kuroo said, taking Tsukishima’s hand in his. “And call me crazy or whatever, but I think that with the way things panned out, this was meant to happen. How about you? When did you know?”

“When I slept over at your house,” Tsukishima smiled crookedly. “Something about that day made me realize I want to have more days that are just like that with you.”

“Aw, Tsukki. That’s cute,” Kuroo smiled and leaned in. Thanks to his stilettos, he was just about as tall as Tsukishima. Thanks to that, Kuroo decided to be bolder. “Is this the part where I kiss you? N-not that you should feel forced to because consent is important. I was just referencing how rom-com movies—”

“Just shut up and kiss me already.”

“Okay.” And then a bit too quickly, Kuroo leaned to kiss Tsukishima. It was Kuroo’s first kiss, and probably Tsukishima’s as well, and neither of them felt that they knew what they were doing. But Kuroo still felt closer to someone than he had ever been with anyone and that was more than enough. It was a culmination of that fateful night Kuroo decided to release the first episode of his podcast, of that fateful night Akiteru and then Tsukishima listened to it, of that fateful night Kuroo posted a meme about dinosaurs on the Flat Earth Society Facebook group, and that fateful night when Tsukishima was drunk and walked into a convenience store, lined up behind Kuroo, and said “Is the ass supposed to be glam, or is being glam an ass?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yayyyy happy endings for everyone! i'm really excited to get started on the epilogue but i might be a bit late with uploading it because i'm going to finally binge-read the haikyuu manga before the final chapter comes out because i'm That Kind of Fan. i hope you guys liked it and leave a comment or kudos if you did :)


	13. coming from the edges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by: toothaching fluff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay um, i'm sorry for ghosting for an entire week i kind of binge-read the entire haikyuu!! manga (because this clown hasn't read it yet) and had to recuperate. anyway, welcome to the SHORTEST CHAPTER I'VE EVER WRITTEN FOR THIS FIC. since it's an epilogue, i just wanted to explore a bit of these peeps' lives in the future and tie up a few ends. i hope you guys like it ^^

“And that’s it for today’s podcast. Once again, thank you to all my loyal listeners and if this is your first time here at Screams On-Screen, I hope to see you around more. For more content, be sure to check out my website, ScreamsOnScreen.com, for free transcripts and bonus content from the show. And, if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t mind constant tweets about research on horror movies and random cat videos, why not follow me on Twitter @Cats_Pajamas? With that, close your doors tight, pause before going into the basement, and I’ll see you again next Friday,” Kuroo said, his entire spiel completely memorized after having gone through it for so long. He pressed ‘Stop Record’ on his laptop and took off his headphones before stretching his arms in the air. It had been a day of recording for him and as much as he wanted to go through the recordings and begin editing, he knew that his exhaustion would just prevent from thinking objectively.

With that, he left his recording desk and walked over to his writing desk which was basically a spot on the floor with a beanbag, a low coffee table, and a bookshelf. Tsukishima had rolled his eyes at him when Kuroo bought the beanbag until he eventually caught his boyfriend looking through beanbags on his phone one night. He crashed his butt down on his very professional, very comfortable ‘work chair’ and began thumbing through his script for the next podcast episode that his editor, Yaku Morisuke, had already gone over with his signature bright, red pen. Yaku was a merciless editor but one that Kuroo wouldn’t trade anything for. Even when he got notes on the margins saying things like ‘were you asleep when you wrote this???’.

Ever since he accepted Yaku’s offer for his podcast to attain an international listener community three years ago, Kuroo’s dreams of being able to run a podcast full-time and interact with an even larger fanbase had been attained. He was actually able to afford a much better microphone and other recording equipment to up the sound quality, as well as a few part-time college students, Shibayama and Lev, as research assistants. Not to mention Yamaguchi, who had spent the last two years doing his Master’s degree in the UK, who had helped him with translation work ever since Kuroo had pressed himself to learn English. Thankfully, he was a pretty fast learner.

He was just about done with going through the edits on his manuscript when his phone rang and Kuroo quickly picked it up after reading the caller ID. “Hello? Akiteru-san!”

_“Hey Kuroo,”_ came the sound of his voice. Even after spending a good amount of time at the Tsukishima household, Kuroo still hadn’t gotten over the fact that the two brothers were very different personality-wise.

“What’s up? Is Kei not picking up his phone again?” Kuroo grinned.

_“Uh, you know it. He has a phone for a reason,”_ Akiteru sighed. _“You know how Mom likes to check on him. Especially with the fact that he’s almost always over-working.”_

“You got that right,” Kuroo glanced at the wall clock in his study and stood up. “Actually, I was just about to head out to check on him. Maybe bring some dinner.”

_“You are a lifesaver Kuroo,”_ Akiteru said gratefully. Kuroo couldn’t help but chuckle. _“Give him an earful for me, will you? And tell Akane-san and Shizuka-san that I said hi.”_

“Will do,” Kuroo nodded before Akiteru hung up. It was just the right time for Kuroo to whip something up without having to rush too much. He left his study, pausing to smile wistfully at the pictures along the hallway that had accumulated over the years: the picture of Kuroo’s Halloween cat costume as a kid that Tsukishima had loved looking at for some time, Tsukishima’s graduation picture, the picture of the two of them along with Kuroo’s two moms and Tsukishima’s mom and Akiteru from one of their Christmases together, a picture of the T-Rex from Jurassic Park and the shark from Jaws photoshopped together courtesy of a gag gift from Kenma, and the one with their friends, the last time take they were all together, after the second remodeling of Bird’s Nest. Past the hallway, he entered the kitchen and began to cook a quick dinner that he packed into two lunchboxes. Thanks to all his years serving at Bird’s Nest, he won over Tsukishima’s mother with his cooking, not that it was particularly hard to show that he was an awesome boyfriend.

One short bus ride later, Kuroo was standing in front of the Sendai Museum where Tsukishima worked part-time in while finishing his Master’s degree. He had been busy recently due to the new fossil collection but Kuroo could clearly see the enthusiasm in Tsukishima’s eyes before he left for work. He’d never get tired of that look.

“Ah, Kuroo,” the nightguard greeted as Kuroo approached the entrance with a wave.

“Hey, Sawamura,” Kuroo waved and grinned.

“You came just in time. I was about go check whether your boyfriend was still functioning,” he said with a chuckle, not bothering to check Kuroo’s lunchbox.

“It is what it is,” he shrugged. Sawamura handed him a visitor’s pass to enter.

“I feel like at this point you don’t need one anyway since you come in so often,” he said.

“Maybe I should bring you dinner too,” Kuroo joked.

“Nah, I’ve got someone like you taking care of me too,” Sawamura grinned knowingly which Kuroo returned before entering the museum. It had closed for the night but there were some staff still milling around, some setting up displays in one of the building’s wing. Kuroo had his route memorized and took the stairs to the basement where the collections passed through before being displayed. He walked past the rows of offices that held a various number of things before entering the one labeled ‘Fossil Room’. Inside, Tsukishima was fast asleep under one of the tables that was comically as long as he was. Kuroo kneeled down beside his boyfriend, smiling to himself at how lucky he was that Tsukishima was his boyfriend and he was able to bare witness to the little quirks about him. By Tsukishima’s head was his phone that he used as a timer for his one-hour work naps. ‘Well, time for you to wake up,’ Kuroo said to himself, preparing to nudge Tsukishima when his boyfriend opened his eyes.

“If I didn’t watch as many horror movies as I have to do, I would be scared shitless,” Kuroo said, sitting down cross-legged on the floor.

“That’s why we’re together,” Tsukishima yawned and stretched his arms. “I felt a disturbance and woke up.”

“Is that the right thing to say to your wonderful boyfriend who brings you dinner?” Kuroo feigned being hurt as he unpacked the lunchbox.

“Thanks, boyfriend,” Tsukishima smirked up at him as he edged out from under the table to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of Kuroo. The two of them always ate on the floor whenever Kuroo had to come to the office since all the tables in the Fossil Room were filled with, well, fossils.

“So, how’s the collection coming along?” Kuroo asked, craning his neck to look over at the table Tsukishima had slept under where a row of instruments, most of them brushes, and what appeared to him to be an assortment of sharp rocks.

“Well, there was a mix-up with the package labeling and what we thought was a canine tooth from the upper jaw was actually one from the lower jaw and I was right all along to bring attention to it,” he said proudly.

“That’s my Kei,” Kuroo winked at him. Tsukishima rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless. “You’re amazing for being able to notice these things, you know?”

“I hear that from you every day.”

“Because it’s true!”

“Anyway, how did recording day go? Your voice sounds kinda raspy,” he said.

“Ah well, took a few takes. I feel like my accent is still quite heavy,” Kuroo frowned.

“So? A bunch of your fangirls love it anyway.”

“Aw, Kei! Are you jealous?” Kuroo teased. Tsukishima gave him a dead stare. “Sorry, was just hoping.”

“Why would I be jealous when you’re the one who lives with me?” Tsukishima scoffed before finishing the rest of his lunchbox.

“I love you,” Kuroo snickered.

“I love you too, idiot,” Tsukishima, glancing up at him for a fraction of a second.

“So, do you think you’ll be finished by next week?” Kuroo asked.

“Oh, definitely. I’ve put in a few extra hours to take some days off. And my thesis is going pretty well thanks to that time I spent an all-nighter—”

“Which you’re not doing again,” Kuroo said seriously. “You were sick for three days!” he protested at the look on Tsukishima’s face.

“But I got things _done_.”

“Next time you try pulling off an all-nighter I’m dragging you to bed.”

Tsukishima scowled but gave in, knowing that Kuroo was much stronger than he was and more than capable of dragging him to bed. “Fine, I’ll just stay up really, really late,” he said, pleased with himself at the loophole and knowing that Kuroo stayed up just as late.

“As long as you’re in bed. Wanna watch a movie?” Kuroo grinned. “I just got ‘Hereditary’ in the mail today.” He caught Tsukishima glance at the fossils on his table guiltily before nodding his head.

“Yes please. I’ve had enough staring at rocks all day,” he yawned and pushed his long bangs from his forehead. Kuroo had convinced him to grow his hair out because of how hot it looked on him. Even though he got the occasional grumble of frustration from his boyfriend.

“Maybe we should switch jobs for a day,” Kuroo jokingly suggested as Tsukishima stood up to collect his things. “You’ll get to watch a whole bunch of movies.”

“I don’t think I’d like having to rewind and scrutinize each scene or have to speak in front of a microphone and then hear my voice all day,” Tsukishima snorted. “And I think you’d get tired of squinting at fossils and arguing with your co-workers.”

“I’m so happy to have Yaku-san and Yamaguchi,” Kuroo sighed happily, half-gloating at Tsukishima as he switched off the lights in the room and joined him out the doorway.

“Can we get milktea on the way?”

“You put five packets of sugar in your coffee this morning.”

“Seventy-five percent sugar,” Tsukishima bargained.

“Twenty-five percent.”

“Fifty percent,” they said at the same time.

“Fine, that works,” Tsukishima smirked. Kuroo wrapped an arm around his shoulder as they walked out of the museum.

…

“Thank you, come again,” Akaashi bowed and waved as their clients for the day, a couple of young, high school students who attended their clothes-altering workshop, left the store. A good number of them were actually their longtime followers on Youtube and Instagram and were quite starstruck at meeting Akaashi before eventually paying attention to the workshop.

“Ah, those were a nice group of kids,” Yachi smiled as she began to pack up the sewing kits that had been used for the session. “Kind of brought me back to my own high school days,” she chuckled.

“I have a feeling you were the kind of girl who wore a million barrettes for some time,” Akaashi said.

“I grew out of those! But never the hairclips,” she grinned, tapping the Hello Kitty clip that pinned back her bangs. “How were your high school days?”

“Well, most of it was spent wondering what wearing the uniform skirt would feel like before proceeding to actually wear skirts freely once I graduated,” Akaashi chuckled.

“Oh, the new delivery box of more clothes donations came earlier today while I was opening up the shop,” Yachi added.

“Great, I’ll look through them tomorrow,” Akaashi nodded. “You have a call with Yamaguchi later, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Yachi giggled with a slight blush on her face.

“Go ahead,” Akaashi chuckled. “I’ll close up today.”

“Thanks, Akaashi!” Yachi grinned, scurrying to her office upstairs before returning with her bag. “I’ll see you tomorrow!” she waved before leaving.

After graduation, Akaashi had immediately started their second-hand clothes store, which they worked on online at first, but thanks again to their followers, they were able to sell and earn enough money to set up an actual store. ‘Ruffled Feathers’ was the name and Akaashi was proud of it since it matched Bokuto’s diner and the concept of what they were selling. They shared the space with Yachi, who worked as a freelance interior designer and had an office on the second floor of the small building they rented. In between her work, she liked to help Akaashi out with their store and had just as good an eye for fashion design.

It was quite late in the night but they knew that Bird’s Nest was just about to close. The diner was in the same place it always was, just a twenty-minute walk away from Ruffled Feathers. Akaashi entered the diner to find Goshiki, Konoha, and Sarukui, the new staff that Bokuto hired after Kuroo, Hinata, and Kageyama left, closing up.

“Akaashi-san!” Konoha greeted as soon as they came in.

“Busy night?” Akaashi smiled sympathetically at the tired expressions on Sarukui and Konoha’s faces.

“Same as always,” Sarukui sighed with a content expression on his face. “Well, maybe not enough for the new guy over there,” he inclined his head towards Goshiki who was enthusiastically mopping the floor. He had just recently been hired for the reason that ‘he reminded me of me’ according to Bokuto. Akaashi agreed too.

“Where’s your boss?” they asked.

“Washing the dishes, even though Goshiki volunteered for it,” Konoha snickered.

“Ah, I should have known,” Akaashi smiled, bowing slightly to the two of them before entering the kitchen where Bokuto was whistling a tune while rinsing plates. He hadn’t changed much over the past few years: he still loved working at Bird’s Nest, his cooking was still amazing, and he was still the energetic owner who loved to interact with is customers, and for Akaashi that was more than comforting. They walked closer and wrapped their arms around their boyfriend’s torso, burying their face in his shirt which smelled like sweat and spices.

“Ah, Akaashi!” they heard Bokuto exclaim with surprise. They felt him turn around slightly to place a kiss on their forehead. “I told you I’d pick you up today, didn’t I?”

“Wanted to surprise you,” Akaashi mumbled. “Did I surprise you?”

“A bit, but you’ve been doing it often, honey,” Bokuto laughed, the sound vibrating through his body. “How was the workshop today?”

“Good. The ones who came got really into it and made some really cool pieces,” Akaashi said. “One of them said that he was also a fan of you when he watched Tokyo’s Best Diner.”

“Aha, that was a long time ago,” Bokuto chuckled. “Still feels like yesterday sometimes,” he added wistfully.

“We’ll be seeing all of them again soon.”

“I wonder how Hinata and Kageyama are doing,” Bokuto said. “I think last time we heard from them was from that viral video of the two of them playing volleyball at the beach.”

“Kageyama-kun tripped in the sand when he was doing a jump serve.”

“That one! I hope they’ve gotten better since,” he paused for a while. “I bet Kuroo’s doing alright.”

“His podcast has quite the international fanbase so I bet he’s more than alright,” Akaashi said. “And Tsukishima-san’s there to keep him from doing anything stupid.”

“I’m sure he finds a way every now and then! It’s Kuroo after all,” Bokuto laughed.

A few minutes later, Bokuto and the rest of his staff finished closing up and went their separate ways for the night. Akaashi held their boyfriend’s hand as they walked home to the nearby apartment they shared. Yachi had helped them design and fix the space when they moved in and despite the fairly small size, it still felt very open and inviting and, not to mention, just the right size for them to host parties with their closest friends. ‘That’s Yachi-san for you!’ Bokuto had exclaimed when he saw how the final product looked like.

Akaashi’s favorite part of the house was the small balcony that was big enough for a few plants and two chairs. It was a nightly ritual for them to sit there with mugs of cocoa and talk about their day, or for Bokuto to talk about the latest recipe he was coming up with. Despite those regular occurrences, Akaashi’s everyday was peppered with surprises thanks to Bokuto. On some days, it would be flower bouquets suddenly hidden in their closet, on some it would be a post-it stuck on their coffee tumbler before they left for work, on some days it would be Bokuto asking if he could be the one to paint Akaashi’s nails.

‘Just like adding a pinch of salt to dessert,’ they smiled thoughtfully as they nodded along, half-listening to what Bokuto was saying. It was something their father always said when he was baking something, a word of wisdom that he bestowed on Akaashi before they left to move in with Bokuto. Until now, and hopefully for the next years to come, it would hold true.

…

Despite how nervous she usually was about getting into something new, Yachi was surprisingly calm and more than alright when Yamaguchi left for the UK a few months after they graduated. Well, actually, it was probably because of Yamaguchi and all her other friends that she was more confident in where she was going to go with her life. From continuing a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend to agreeing to work with Akaashi at their shop and becoming a freelance interior designer. She took herself more seriously now, unafraid to go with her intuition when it came to making decisions, and was hell-bent on making a name for herself as a great designer. Of course, that meant quite a lot of work that made her remember her university days, but it was fulfilling. And more than once, she and Yamaguchi made time to call each other.

[from: tadashi]

(10:00 pm) _i’ve got my ice cream with me!_

(10:00 pm) _ready to call?_

[to: tadashi]

(10:00 pm) _ready!_

Yachi leaned back against the pillows on her bed. She had freshly showered and had a bowl of her favorite strawberry ice cream on her lap with her laptop on a pillow in front of her. After accepting the call invitation from Yamaguchi, his face appeared on-screen.

_“Hey you,”_ he grinned, waving at the screen. Based on the background, she could tell he was lying in bed too and the earphones in his ears suggested that his roommate was there with him.

“Tadashi,” Yachi smiled. Yamaguchi raised the microphone connected to his earphones in-between bites of ice cream.

_“What flavor are you having today?”_

“The usual,” Yachi lifted her bowl to show him. She was the kind of person who rarely deviated from her favorites, unlike Yamaguchi. “How about you?”

_“Mint chocolate chip!”_ Tadashi grinned. _“Tsukki always roasts me for liking this but it doesn’t taste like toothpaste at all!”_

“Sorry hon, I have to agree with Tsukishima-san on this one.”

_“But you still like cookies and cream?”_

“It’s second to strawberry.”

_“Great,”_ Yamaguchi grinned leaning on his hand to look at her through the webcam of his laptop. _“You look pretty today.”_ He always said that during their video calls, and even though Yachi knew that her hair was still wet and she hadn’t exfoliated since last week, but enough of Yamaguchi’s persistence made her nod her head.

“Thank you. You look cute today too.”

_“I put on a facemask last night and used the headband you gave me,”_ Yamaguchi said.

“Headbands are more than essential,” Yachi approved. “So, how’s the packing going?”

_“Ah, you know. Still debating on more than a couple of things. I’m still over the weight limit no matter what I try to leave behind,”_ he sighed.

“Show me your suitcase. I can help you out,” Yachi offered.

_“You will! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Best girlfriend ever!”_ Yamaguchi cheered before quieting down after glancing at his roommate off-screen. _“Sorry, let me take you to my suitcase.”_

In true Yamaguchi fashion, most of his luggage was actually full of gifts he had bought for friends and family rather than his own clothes. Another considerable addition to the weight were all the books he bought that Yachi knew he’d never in a million years part with. She advised him on leaving some toiletries like shampoo and large toothpaste behind. Lastly, she gave him the option to mail his books back to him separately.

_“Are you sure I’ll be able to get them back?”_ Yamaguchi asked worriedly.

“I’m sure. And you can ask anyone you know there to update you too. Plus, you can look for a delivery service that lets you keep track of your shipment,” Yachi said helpfully.

_“Thanks, Hitoka, you’re the best. I don’t know what I’d do without you,”_ Yamaguchi grinned.

“You’d have a suitcase way over the weight limit,” Yachi laughed. “I’m so excited to see you again I’ve hardly slept the past few days. Akaashi caught me spacing out quite a few times this past week.”

_“Me too. I miss seeing you every day and I miss passing by Bokuto’s diner for lunch or breakfast and even that café in Miyagi that we always go to,”_ Yamaguchi enumerated.

“Soon, love,” Yachi smiled.

_“Soon,”_ Yamaguchi nodded. _“Also, are you sure you want to pick me up at the airport? I’ll be coming in at three am there, you know?”_

“I’ll do my best to stay awake!” Yachi said determinedly.

_“Alright. You better get a lot of sleep then before you leave. And bring Tsukki with you. It’s dangerous that late at night,”_ Yamaguchi reminded.

“Don’t worry. He misses you. I didn’t even have to ask him twice!” Yachi giggled.

_“Well, I did get that much when he messaged me out of the blue asking about how to translate something that I’m sure he could have just asked Kuroo to do,”_ Yamaguchi snickered. Yachi loved seeing his nose wrinkle and his dimples show when he laughed. _“Do you know when Hinata and Kageyama are coming back, though?”_

“Two days before you do. Bokuto and Akaashi are taking care of fetching them from the airport and they’ll stay over at Kenma-san’s house,” Yachi answered.

_“Kenma’s, huh? Say, is his house really as nice as it looks like in the pictures he sent us?”_ Yamaguchi asked.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Yachi nodded. She could still remember the time she and a couple of their friends helped Kenma with setting up his Youtube channel. After a couple of videos, he gained quite a following that grew to the point that Kenma knew that he could continue doing it as his career. He ended up dropping out of college in Yachi, Yamaguchi, and Tsukishima’s last year of college to follow his passion.

_“We sure have changed quite a bit,”_ Yamaguchi smiled wistfully. _“It’s been great here and I’ve done things I could’ve only dreamed of, but I can’t wait to come back home.”_

“I can’t wait for you to come back home either, Tadashi,” Yachi sighed.

…

“And once again, thank you for coming to this very long livestream, I will now drink a tall glass of apple juice and sleep for sixteen hours,” Kenma smiled and flashed a peace-sign at the camera before ending the stream. He sighed and proceeded to go through his ritual of stretching his fingers, rubbing his eyes, and shaking his hair out from the loose bun that he always kept it in before lying down on the couch that he kept in his gaming-slash-recording room. It was his undoubtably his favorite room in the house, next to his bedroom. Everything he put in it came from his ‘dream game room set-up’ that he doodled once in high school: an awesome PC set-up, noise-canceling headphones, a mini fridge for Dr. Pepper, a nice couch, and complete soundproofing in the room. He only had one other bedroom in his house but his living room was quite large and spacious. Not that his activities took up a lot of space, but part of him planned buying this house, and the layout of it, around the knowledge that he had a fairly large group of friends who would all come together again someday like they did back when most of them were still in college.

Kenma lay in his couch with his tall glass of apple juice and decided to scroll through Youtube. He had somehow befriended a couple of local gaming Youtubers and collabed with them quite often. And yet, the channel that he often paid attention to was ‘Rio Beach Volleyball Plays’. They had just uploaded a brand-new video that Kenma quickly clicked on.

Once again, Hinata and Kageyama were the focus of the video, or rather, the Ninja Duo, which the locals nicknamed them. Both of his friends were much tanner than the last time Kenma saw them and much bulkier too with muscle. ‘Glad to know that they’re still eating as well as they usually do,’ Kenma found himself smiling. He watched the video where Hinata and Kageyama showed off their new quick, which was slower than what he usually saw in an indoor court, but nonetheless still impressive considering that they were playing in a beach. The last part of the video was a short interview with the two of them. It was mostly Hinata who spoke for the two of them, no doubt because he knew Portuguese better, but at the end of it, he smiled and flashed a peace sign at the camera. Kenma smiled and did a peace sign back.

It was their own way of communicating through the distance. Kenma always ended his streams with that peace sign and Hinata did it whenever he was interviewed. Both of them were a bit too busy to constantly chat like they used to and the time differences made everything difficult, but just that simple gesture was a way of saying ‘I know you’re watching, and thank you for that.’ Hinata was the one who suggested it, back when they had said their goodbyes at the airport, back when Kenma felt there was a bit of an unspoken thing between them. He didn’t want to prod at said unspoken thing because he was ninety-percent sure it was only him who felt it. Knowing that Hinata would be gone for some time served as a reminder to Kenma that maybe his feelings, and maybe the friendship that they had as well, would die down. And then, just when he’s about to confirm it, he sees videos like this and the small gesture that Hinata promised to keep up. Now, who was Kenma to not hold up his end of the agreement?

There were only a few days left until Hinata, Kageyama, and Yamaguchi would come back home and they would all be together again. Kenma had offered up his house for the Ninja Duo to stay in, and he had the feeling that something would happen then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh how was it? please let me know!


	14. to meet in the middle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This fic was sponsored by: the Society of Flat Earthers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, this is the ending i guess.
> 
> i just want to give a big thank you to all of you for reading and commenting and giving kudos on my fic. i haven't written fanfic in so long and i was hesitant to start again and thanks to you guys, i've found my love for writing these things again and i think i'll be working on a couple more fics afterward. this is also the longest fic i've ever worked on and just thinking about when i started it months ago and how it is now, i feel like there are some things that i want to change, things that didn't pan out like i thought, and things that i'm happy to have added. but those are just normal fic-writing feelings i guess.
> 
> so, without further ado, welcome to the last chapter of the earth is flatter than you think

“It even smells like Japan!” Hinata exclaimed, practically twirling around in the middle of the airport. Kageyama was trying his very best to keep both himself and his friend from looking weird in the airport of their own native country but even he was overwhelmed by the fact that he could write the signs all around him that weren’t in Portuguese or English.

“Could you—” Kageyama interrupted himself by inhaling the scent of Japanese curry from a nearby restaurant. Hinata scampered to his side and sniffed the air with him.

“Ahhh, curry,” they sighed in unison.

“Hey, is that them?” Kageyama suddenly heard a familiar voice that they hadn’t heard in years. He turned his head, searching for the speaker, until his eyes landed on Bokuto and Akaashi standing in the crowd holding up ‘Welcome Home!’ signs.

“Bokuto-senpai!” Hinata yelled, running over and practically leaping into Bokuto’s arms.

“Hey! Hinata!” Bokuto grinned. “My, you’ve gotten really heavy,” he groaned, promptly putting Hinata down. “You sure gained some muscle, huh?”

“Our coach taught us how!” Hinata grinned, flexing his arm muscles.

“How was your flight?” Akaashi asked Kageyama.

“We were passed out the entire time,” he answered.

“Ah,” they smiled. “Well, we can head straight to Kenma’s house if you guys still want to rest, though I doubt that, or we can pass by the diner first for—”

“Yes!” Kageyama and Hinata exclaimed.

“Okay, diner it is,” Akaashi chuckled.

Until now, Bokuto still remembered their regular orders and, if it was possible, his food tasted even better. Kageyama didn’t know if it was because he’d been gone so long or because Bokuto was just that much of an awesome chef but he was too hungry to think. The diner hadn’t changed much ever since they were last there. The second-floor renovation was added almost right after Bokuto and Hinata had won the Tokyo’s Best Diner competition. If there was one thing that really changed when it came to the interior of the diner, it was the addition of more framed articles and photographs writing about the success of Bird’s Nest. Kageyama made a mental note to read them the next time he came around. There was also another addition to the diner in the form of an extra staff member named Goshiki Tsutomu. Bokuto had introduced Hinata and Kageyama as ‘one of the best employees that Bird’s Nest ever had’ and Kageyama could have sworn that Goshiki had begun cleaning the entire diner from top to bottom when he heard that.

Finally, it was time for them to go to Kenma’s house. Bird’s Nest had to reopen in a bit so Akaashi took care of driving the two of them. Kageyama took the shotgun seat while Hinata called his entire family in the backseat.

“So, how was beach volleyball? I heard it’s quite different and difficult from indoor volleyball,” Akaashi asked. Kageyama was struck with how much he missed his seniors, particularly Akaashi who was just calm and cool and surprisingly easy to talk to.

“It’s a completely different hurdle to overcome,” Kageyama answered. “Other than the obvious challenge of running and jumping in the sand, there are other environmental factors like wind and sunlight that you have to get used to. Thanks to that though you learn to pay attention to a lot of things. And once you master being able to move around in the sand, you get much faster and more agile in an indoor court.”

“I see,” Akaashi nodded. “I’ve watched some of the videos of you guys online.”

“Ah, th-that,” Kageyama stammered, remembering how many times he and Hinata lost to other competitors.

“Don’t worry, I’m not one to judge, especially if it’s not something I’ve experience for myself,” Akaashi laughed lightheartedly. Kageyama visibly relaxed.

“So, how are you and Bokuto doing? And your shop?” he asked.

“Pretty well, actually,” Akaashi nodded. “I’m hoping to expand the size of my store in a bit and maybe hire some people to handle an online shop. Yachi has been a huge help, even though I’ve been telling her that she should focus on her own job more.”

“Ah, seems like she’s doing well too,” Kageyama smiled.

“She just misses Yamaguchi a lot,” Akaashi added. “But he’ll be back too in a bit.” Kageyama nodded at that and the rest of the drive was silent, except for when Hinata made him say ‘hi’ to Natsu, until they finally reached Kenma’s place. It wasn’t an apartment but an actual _house_ that he had apparently _bought_ and Kageyama was stunned by the sheer fact of it, at the same time quite stoked about being able to stay at this place. He was the first to walk up to the door and knocked at it, while juggling with his suitcase. The door opened to reveal Kenma, not much different from when Kageyama last saw him except for his hair being a lot longer. He didn’t know if he expected Kenma to wear a dress shirt or a fancy robe since he was rich at this point, only to remember that it was Kenma he was thinking about. He’d probably be wearing that same red sweatshirt until he was buried with it.

“Hey, Kageyama,” Kenma smiled and cocked his head. “Nice…shirt?”

“Ah, thanks?” Kageyama looked down. It was a simple white t-shirt but with the words ‘I Will Never Lose My Virginity Because I Never Lose’ custom painted on the front. The shirt was a gift from none other than the dumbass Hinata, although Kageyama would secretly admit to deducting some of those dumbass points because of how funny the line was. “Hinata gave it.”

“Sounds like something he’d do,” Kenma looked up over Kageyama’s head, evidently searching for Hinata, until he strolled into view, plopping his suitcase on the ground next to Kageyama’s.

“Kenma…”

“Shouyo…” Kenma’s eyes widened a fraction at the sight of Hinata standing there. ‘It’s not like he hasn’t watched the videos of us playing beach volleyball,’ Kageyama thought, wondering at the reaction. It was as if Kenma was meeting Hinata for the first time. ‘Maybe it’s because we’ve been gone for so long,’ Kageyama shrugged.

“It’s been a while,” Kenma said after clearing his throat.

“Yeah, sure has,” Hinata grinned.

“Come on in,” Kenma invited them, opening the door wider. All of Kageyama’s questions about that weird interaction had disappeared when he saw how cool Kenma’s living room was. There was a huge flat-screen TV with the latest game consoles plugged in. A huge, comfy looking couch that Kageyama wanted to crash into and be happy to sleep in, a couple of beanbag chairs that he knew Hinata would be more than happy to sleep in, and most importantly, a table with a kotatsu, something that Kageyama had missed during his stay in Brazil.

“Wow! This place is amazing!” Hinata grinned running over to admire the rows of game consoles.

“Well, I guess you two will be more than taken care of,” Akaashi chuckled. “I feel like a parent leaving their kids in a friend’s house.”

“That’s because you are,” Kenma snickered.

“See you guys. Um, behave yourself, I guess?” Akaashi waved.

“Bye. Thank you for fetching us,” Kageyama bowed.

“Thank you for fetching us!” Hinata repeated as Akaashi left.

“So,” Kenma shuffled his feet. “Do you guys want to catch up?” The way he said it made it seem that Kenma didn’t want to go through the weirdness of small talk and Kageyama knew for a fact that that was true. “Or… we could play Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4.” Kageyama could have sworn he saw something glitter in Hinata’s eye.

“Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4,” they agreed in unison.

…

Five hours of gaming later, Hinata could no longer feel his own fingers but he was beyond happy at being able to play his favorite game with his favorite people again. It took a while for him to re-learn the combo attacks and the regular controls until he was finally beating Kageyama’s Madara with his Hashirama. Those were the characters that he wanted to play the most. Of course, Kenma could still beat both of them, even when he was using someone like Suigetsu or Karin.

“Man, no fair! I bet you had so much practice,” Hinata accused him when Kenma knocked out Naruto with just a couple of moves. Kageyama had long retired to Kenma’s bedroom for the night but Hinata still had more than enough adrenaline left and he was happy to spend it on Kenma.

“I didn’t practice it. This is my first time playing it. Kageyama tried to open the plastic covering with his teeth, remember?” Kenma snickered.

“Oh yeah…” Hinata realized. “So, you just bought it and forgot to play it?”

“No, I wanted to play it when you guys came back,” Kenma flashed him a shy smile. Hinata felt his heart skip a beat. During the past few years in Brazil, Hinata knew that his body had changed quite a lot as he gained more muscle and tanned under the sun. It was comforting to see that Kenma hadn’t changed much: same piercing, cat-like eyes, same small face, same delicate hands, even his clothes were the same. Although his hair had grown quite long and still half-hid his face. Hinata subconsciously reached out a hand to tuck part of it behind Kenma’s ear.

“Shouyo…?” Kenma looked at him questioningly and also, slightly expectant. Hinata felt himself blush and quickly retracted his hand.

“You still remember to do the peace sign at the end of all your videos, huh?” he said quickly to change the awkward atmosphere.

“How could I forget?” Kenma chuckled. “And my subscribers think its cute. I found a few fanarts of me doing that.”

“It is pretty cute,” Hinata grinned. “And it’s cool to have something like a signature especially for a Youtuber. Something for fans to reciprocate.”

“Well, it wasn’t really for the fans in the first place…”

Once again, Hinata felt his face heat up and his stomach erupt into butterflies. During the days leading up to his return to Japan, he felt a certain amount of apprehension mixed with his excitement about finally coming home. The biggest reason was because they were going to stay in Kenma’s house. And even after all these years, Hinata found that he might still have feelings for him. But he didn’t know the first thing when it came to initiating that kind of talk.

Except, he remembered his first few months at Brazil. The sweltering heat, the language everywhere that he couldn’t understand, the confusing street names and geography of the cities that Hinata took months to get used to. And then with beach volleyball, there was the sand, the heat, the sun, and the wind. And yet, he got through all of that with the sole intention of improving at volleyball. ‘Just think of it as another challenge, Shouyo. Like how Kenma thinks of things in terms of game levels,’ he told himself.

“Uh, Kenma?” he finally said aloud.

“Yeah?”

“Would you…” Hinata swallowed. “Like to go out some time? Or not exactly go out because you’re famous and it must be a hassle for you to hide from people but go out as in like go together, even though we’re not exactly going somewhere but we’re just together. N-not that I want us together, wait actually, I do, but you don’t have to agree right away and it doesn’t have to be immediate and everything but—”

“You lost me at would you like to go out some time,” Kenma chuckled. “And to answer that, yes. I would.” He smiled shyly and, was that, a _blush_ across his face? Hinata felt his stomach flutter again.

“G-great! Although, I might be busy going back to training in an indoor gym especially since Kageyama and I were signed onto the MSBY Black Jackals right away so…” Hinata scratched his brain for his next free days.

“It’s alright, Shouyo. I’m in no rush. We’ve got all the time,” Kenma reassured him. Hinata visibly relaxed and leaned back against the couch. One of the things he loved about Kenma was how he could calm him down. He was right. They had all the time in the world.

…

“Ah, home sweet home,” Yamaguchi sighed contentedly as he wheeled the cart filled with his luggage into the Arrivals section of the airport. It had been so long since he had been home and although studying abroad in the UK was an entire flurry of events and adventure, he also missed his friends and his girlfriend and going to nearby diners for a nice, fresh bowl of ramen. He scanned the crowd in anticipation and quickly spotted Tsukishima, who towered over almost everyone else there, and his girlfriend holding up a huge ‘Welcome Home!’ sign that she obviously made herself. Just seeing them caused Yamaguchi to be overcome with emotion that he left his cart and ran to them, hugging them both as best as he could despite the height differences.

“Oi, do you want someone to steal your stuff?” Tsukishima scoffed. Yamaguchi laughed at his best friend’s way of greeting him.

“I missed you too, Tsukki.”

“How was your flight, hon?” Yachi asked, wrapping both of her arms around his waist. The small gesture made Yamaguchi want to pull her in tighter but he backed away to look at the two of them again. Tsukishima was obviously tired from having to come over way past his bedtime while Yachi appeared to have gotten through the night with vending machine coffee.

“It was alright. The food was kind of gross and overpriced but what can you do?” he shrugged before breaking into a grin again. “I’m so glad to be finally home.”

“You’re back on time. If you had stayed there for a few weeks more you’d have an accent already,” Tsukishima snickered.

“Wait, do I? Is it noticeable?” Yamaguchi panicked before seeing the look on his best friend’s face. “Okay, very funny Tsukki. Glad to know that you still have a sense of humor this early in the morning.”

“And that sense of humor is close to running out,” Tsukishima yawned. “Come on. Get your stuff and let’s get out of here.”

None of them knew how to drive so they ended up taking a taxi back to Yachi’s apartment. Tsukishima dozed off in the front seat while Yamaguchi caught up with his girlfriend in the back, his arm or hand always either on her shoulder or around her waist. Finally, they were at Yachi’s place and everyone but Yamaguchi was more than ready to crash into bed. Tsukishima immediately crashed on the couch with his socks still on and was out like a light. The caffeine was clearly wearing off Yachi and Yamaguchi let her use the shower quickly before he did before they curled up in her bed for the night. He had only slept over at Yachi’s house a few times before he left for the UK but being back in her bed felt so familiar. The bed was a bit small for him so he had to curl his legs in a bit with Yachi asleep under his arm. He knew it would take a while before he would eventually fall asleep but there was no need for him to do or be anywhere else but here.

Of course, jet lag would cause him to only sleep for about an hour only to wake up extremely tired in comparison to how he was the night before. But the smell of brewing coffee and the sounds in the kitchen enticed him, as well as the fact that he had to deal with his jet lag sooner rather than later, eventually pulled him out of bed for breakfast.

“Ah, you’re awake!” Yachi greeted him when he entered the kitchen yawning. She was flipping pancakes by the stove and Yamaguchi walked over to kiss her on the forehead.

“’Morning,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes before sitting at the table next to Tsukishima who was nursing a mug of black coffee. “Did you put four tablespoons of sugar in that?” he asked, pulling the mug towards him to take a sip.

“Five actually,” Tsukishima chuckled at the face Yamaguchi made after taking one sip.

“Gross,” he pushed the mug back to his friend. Although the combination of caffeine and sugar did wake him up enough to sit up straight when Yachi brought over the stack of pancakes.

“Eat up. I’m sure you’re hungry after all that airplane food,” she smiled, bringing out a bottle of maple syrup and some butter from the fridge.

“Thanks, Yachi,” Yamaguchi and Tsukishima chorused as they both dug in. A couple of pancakes and a good mug of brewed coffee later, he was awake enough to share some stories with his girlfriend and best friend who were awake enough to pay attention this time.

In his last year of university, he had applied for a scholarship to study theatre and scriptwriting in the UK for two years. To his amazement, he actually earned one and a few months after graduating, he was right smack in another country. Anxiety got the better of him during the first month coupled with homesickness and missing Yachi and his friends. But after seeing what he was able to achieve with his writing, ambition began to drive him further. Thanks to that, he was able to intern at a local theater company and got to put his scriptwriting skills to the test. His final goal once he came back to Japan was to be hired at a publication company and work as a literary translator.

“How’s that going for you so far?” Tsukishima asked when Yamaguchi started talking about the job applications he was filling out.

“Well, the hard part’s the waiting,” he said.

“I’m sure you’ll get more than a few,” Yachi said confidently. “Your resume is amazing.”

“Because I had an amazing editor,” Yamaguchi winked at her.

“In any case, if you need something like a recommendation letter, I can ask Tetsu to write one for you,” Tsukishima added.

“Oh yeah, how is Kuroo by the way?” Yamaguchi asked. It didn’t come as a shock to him that Tsukishima and Kuroo would get together on the last day of the Tokyo’s Best Diner competition, especially after his best friend’s unplanned confession. It was written all over their faces when they re-entered the diner and everyone erupted into cheers. As much as Yamaguchi loved to tease Tsukishima when it came to his soft moments for his boyfriend, he was truly happy that he found someone to love.

“Same as always. Also, he’s practically indebted to your translating skills so you could literally ask him to give you his DVD collection of Sharknado movies and he would,” Tsukishima snickered.

“Nah, the shout-outs in every episode is more than enough,” Yamaguchi waved it off.

“I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to finally listen to Kuroo-san’s podcast. I’ve never been a fan of horror but it really helps you gain an appreciation for the work that gets put into making movies.”

“Said like a true listener,” Tsukishima smiled at her. “Anyway, I’ll have to get going soon. Kuroo texted me ten times this morning to remind me about shopping for our costumes.”

“Ooooh, I bet you guys will look amazing,” Yachi clapped her hands. “I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

“We’ll still have to work on ours,” Yamaguchi chuckled sheepishly.

“I’m sure you’ll think of something. And remember, the tackier the better,” Tsukishima grinned.

…

Kuroo loved Halloween to death so it was expected that Tsukishima would spend hours discussing costume ideas with him. ‘If only Halloween was five times a year!’ Kuroo exclaimed again and again as he and Tsukishima stared at the poster board they put up in the living room for the sole purpose of choosing a costume. Finally, after much deliberation and a couple of arguments that unnecessarily got too heated, they finally made their decision: characters from Stephen King books.

They spent a good chunk of the afternoon after Tsukishima came back from Yachi and Yamaguchi’s place shopping for the needed supplies for their costume like a hammer, some cardboard, red paint, ribbon, and a whole lot of corn syrup. On the day of their Halloween party at Kenma’s place, Tsukishima spent a good amount of time preparing for the night with his boyfriend. A lot of that preparation involved painting a large piece of cardboard, making a bucketful of fake blood, and then dressing up.

“Kei! You almost done?” he heard Kuroo yell from the living room.

“Just a minute!” Tsukishima called back as he fixed the bowtie on the prom tuxedo that he bought at a nearby thrift store, partly thanks to Akaashi’s connections. He smoothed out the front of his jacket before realizing that he actually didn’t need to do that. “Did you get manage to get your hair stuck in the door again?” he asked, stepping out into the living room. Kuroo had his head through the splintered hole he made in the piece of cardboard that had ‘REDRUM’ painted on it. After widening the hole a bit, he managed to fit his head, hair and all, through while the bottom part of the cardboard door was taped to his shoulders.

“Whooahh hoooo,” he whistled at the sight of Tsukishima. “Look at you Prom King! If I knew you’d look good in a tux I would have petitioned for a prom in high school,” he winked. Tsukishima rolled his eyes but smiled at him nonetheless.

“Anyway, what do you need help with?”

“Could you like yeet that extra roll of duct tape at me?” Kuroo asked, pointing at the table next to Tsukishima. He narrowed his eyes at the ‘yeet’ and picked up the duct tape only to roll it across the floor at his boyfriend.

“Wow, thanks,” Kuroo said disappointedly as he picked up the tape and used it to reinforce the handle of his ‘axe’ that they made using a hammer as the base. “Well, I’m pretty much good to go. Are you ready for the blood?”

“One last thing,” he said, picking up the ribbon that he had written ‘Prom King’ on before looping it around his shoulder. Kuroo suggested buying a fake crown but that felt a bit too corny and hard to keep on his head. “Yeah, I’m ready,” Tsukishima grinned excitedly. The two of them went out to their backyard with the bucket of fake blood that Tsukishima had made with corn syrup and meticulously added drops of red and blue food coloring. He tucked his glasses into Kuroo’s shirt pocket while his boyfriend held the bucket over his head.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

Tsukishima squeezed his eyes shut as Kuroo poured the fake blood right over his head to drip down over his clothes. He opened his eyes and rubbed a bit at the fake blood that was a bit too close to his lashes. “Well?” he asked.

“You look just like poor Carrie, except for being a hot guy,” Kuroo grinned and gently placed Tsukishima’s glasses on his nose.

“Everything I aspire to be. So, are we all ready?”

“Wait, selfie time!” Kuroo grinned, pulling out his phone and standing as close to Tsukishima as he could without getting fake bloodstains. “Smile. Or, maybe not. Be yourself.” Kuroo put on his best Jack Nicholson face, without the scary eyebrows, while Tsukishima simply stared at the phone camera while his boyfriend took the shot.

“Great. Now we can go.”

Tsukishima had preemptively covered his seat in Kuroo’s old pick-up truck, that he couldn’t bear to sell, with plastic wrap because of his costume. The fake blood was unbelievably sticky and Tsukishima could only think about all the work he’d have to do standing and dodging people’s arms later at the party but he was competitive and wanted to win the prize for their small costume contest later. After a slightly long drive, filled with more than a couple of stares Tsukishima caught from people in cars nearby. He kind of enjoyed it and didn’t know that going all out on a Halloween costume was something that they would need.

Finally, they pulled up along the sidewalk in front of Kenma’s house and got out of the car. “Okay, get ready for their reactions when we come in,” Kuroo said giddily. Tsukishima found himself smiling at his boyfriend’s excitement. ‘So, this is why people get into relationships. To plan Halloween couple’s costumes together,’ he thought.

They strolled up to the door and rang the doorbell only to be greeted by Akaashi who was dressed as Morticia Addams. “Hey, nice one!” Kuroo grinned. Tsukishima nodded in agreement. Akaashi was probably their biggest competitor for the night, especially knowing that they had tailoring and make-up skills.

“Thank you,” Akaashi smiled and ushered them inside.

“BRO!” Bokuto yelled, bounding at them from across the room. As expected, he was dressed as Gomez.

“BRO!” Kuroo responded, crossing the room to hug his best friend.

“Who are you?” Bokuto asked, frowning at Kuroo’s costume.

“I’m Jack from The Shining!” Kuroo pouted.

“Well it looks rad!” Bokuto grinned and clapped his back.

“Thanks,” Kuroo said halfheartedly, clearly disappointed that his costume wasn’t recognized immediately.

“You must be Carrie then,” Akaashi said, looking at Tsukishima.

“That’s right,” he nodded. “Nice to see you by the way. How’s the shop going?” he asked as he made the way into the kitchen with Akaashi. There were a few drinks and enough food for all nine of them in the very small but very homey party.

“Pretty good. Also, nice tuxedo choice. Even if you are covering it in fake blood,” Akaashi laughed lightly. “How’d you make the fake blood, by the way?”

“Corn syrup and food coloring.”

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”

“By the way, where’s the guy who actually owns the house? Don’t tell me Hinata and Kageyama drove him up the wall already?” Tsukishima looked around for his friend.

“Oh, Kenma said that they were working on their group costume and wanted to be fashionably late for the party in their own house,” Akaashi chuckled.

“Well, _they sure are gonna miss all the pizza I’m stuffing down my mouth,_ ” Tsukishima yelled down the hallway.

“ _YOU BETTER NOT BE FINISHING THE PIZZA STINGYSHIMA!”_ he heard Hinata yell back in reply.

“ _WE JUST CAME BACK FROM BRAZIL AND THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT US?_ ” Kageyama yelled as well.

“Ah, I never thought I’d hear those loud voices again after having to live with them for two years,” Tsukishima shook his head right before the doorbell rang.

“That must be Yachi and Yamaguchi,” Akaashi craned their neck. “I’ll answer it,” they strolled off. Tsukishima noted how Morticia-like their movements were. He heard the door open as well as Yamaguchi and Yachi’s voice.

“Happy Halloween!” they chorused. Tsukishima smiled at their costumes.

“Bob Ross and a Happy Little Tree,” he said.

“You got it,” Yamaguchi grinned, adjusting the wig on his head. He wore a plain button-up, jeans, and carried a paint palette and paint brush. Beside him, Yachi was dressed in a brown leotard with leaves stuck around her shoulders.

“Aww, you guys are always too cute,” Bokuto gushed. “Kuroo and Tsukishima dressed up as a weird mailman and a tampon.”

“T-tampon?!” Tsukishima spluttered.

“Our costumes were too advanced for this crowd,” Kuroo pouted and crossed his arms.

“Hey! Jack Torrance and Carrie, right?” Yachi pointed at their costumes.

“Yachi, we love you,” Kuroo sighed.

“Don’t worry, you guys may get my vote,” Yachi winked secretly at Tsukishima.

“Well, now that we’re all here, I guess it’s time for our Kenma, Hinata, and Kageyama to reveal their group costume,” Akaashi said.

“ _ARE YOU GUYS READY?”_ Hinata yelled.

“No,” Tsukishima snickered. And then, the door opened and Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke stepped out. Except, they were also Hinata, Kenma, and Kageyama respectively, and the costumes were recognizably them but were also kind of tacky enough to be funny. The blonde parts of Kenma’s hair were colored with washable pink dye and he wore a red shirt and black shorts. Kageyama somehow pulled off the Sasuke hair thanks to what appeared to be a weird ponytail attachment to the back of his head. And Hinata kind of just put on their high school volleyball jersey.

“Yoo!! That’s awesome,” Bokuto cheered and clapped as Hinata and Kageyama Naruto-runned into the living room with Kenma trailing behind, which was kinda how the characters in the actual anime were.

“Right?” Hinata grinned, showing off the only authentic-looking part of his costume which was the headband. Tsukishima noted that Hinata had grown slightly taller and that he and Kageyama had way more muscles and their skin was several shades darker, no doubt from spending so much time in the sun.

“Welcome back you two,” Kuroo went in to give them both hugs. “And Kenma! I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“You always spam my livestreams, Kuroo,” Kenma deadpanned before looking over at Tsukishima. “Nice blood.”

“Thanks, made it myself,” Tsukishima shrugged one shoulder. Kenma smiled at that and Tsukishima realized how much he missed their conversations in class back in college.

The rest of the night consisted of rotating through conversations. Stories from two years ago were recalled with very different viewpoints as to the things that happened. Yachi laughed about how little she remembered from her first time getting drunk thanks to Kageyama’s peach soju recommendation. Bokuto animatedly retold how he first met Akaashi, with more than a few exaggerations and adjustments to his story that Kuroo and Akaashi cleared up. Yamaguchi finally realized why Tsukishima had choked on his food that night and as it turns out, it was thanks to a meme Kuroo had shared on a Flat Earth Society Facebook group. Kageyama recalled a firsthand account of Tsukishima and Kuroo’s confession. Hinata talked about what it was like hearing the Kenma scream directed at him. Tsukishima wasn’t sure if it was just him, but he could spot Kenma holding Hinata’s hand and wondered if there had been something between them all along and if there was, he couldn’t wait to see how it would unfold.

“And now, time for the voting to begin,” Bokuto announced, passing around slips of paper and pens. “As always, everyone gets to vote on their favorite couple-slash-group costume. The one who earns the most votes wins.”

“Who are you voting for?” Kuroo nudged Tsukishima as he uncapped the pen with his teeth.

“Definitely Akaashi and Bokuto’s,” he answered, writing the name on the paper.

“Really? I have to give mine to Team 7,” Kuroo grinned at him. “The tackier the better!” he protested at the expression on Tsukishima’s face. They both folded their slips of paper to hand over to Akaashi before the announcement of results.

“And now, the votes have been tallied,” Bokuto beamed at them. “And our winner for tonight is… Team 7!”

“Yes!” Hinata and Kageyama grinned and high-fived each other.

“But Tsukki covered himself in fake blood!” Kuroo pouted.

“Yes but sadly, your costume ideas were too strange for us to comprehend,” Bokuto sighed. “If it’s any comfort, you guys were the third-runner up.”

“That’s better than nothing, I guess?” Kuroo smiled at Tsukishima. “And besides, my followers loved our costume.”

“I wouldn’t say we’re out of the woods just yet,” Tsukishima shook his head.

“So, who are you guys choosing for the punishment?” Bokuto asked the winners. At the same time, Hinata and Kageyama turned to look at Tsukishima while Kenma pointed at Kuroo.

“Come on! Kenma, we’re best friends!” Kuroo begged him.

“You are but I also kind of want to take a video of you being drenched,” Kenma smirked.

“To the backyard!” Bokuto called everyone over. Waiting outside were two buckets full of ice and water.

“First fake blood, and now ice water,” Tsukishima muttered.

“At least the fake blood will be washed off?” Yamaguchi said somewhat helpfully.

“Don’t try to be nice, I know you’ll also take a video of this,” Tsukishima nudged him.

“Think of it as one big happy accident,” his best friend said in his Bob Ross impersonation. Tsukishima stood in between Kuroo and the tub of ice water as Hinata and Kageyama set up chairs to stand on.

“Even after all those years, you didn’t get much taller,” Tsukishima smirked up at Hinata.

“Shut up. I’m not the one getting drenched by ice water tonight,” Hinata stuck out his tongue.

“This is all your fault, you know? Nobody does the Ice Bucket Challenge anymore,” Tsukishima muttered at his boyfriend.

“Are you guys ready?” Hinata and Kageyama grinned, holding up their buckets.

“It was fun to watch! And I super thought we would win tonight,” Kuroo said.

“5…4…3…”

“Maybe I could make it somehow better,” Kuroo grinned, pulling Tsukishima closer. He knew what was going to happen but before he could even react, his boyfriend had already pulled him close to kiss him right as the shock of the icy cold water washed over them. The freezing temperature only made Tsukishima pull the nearest source of warmth, Kuroo himself, closer to him.

“Awww, how cute was that,” Bokuto gushed as Tsukishima and Kuroo pulled apart, shivering and drenched from head to toe in cold water.

“Did you get all that, Kenma?” Hinata asked. Kenma, who had been videoing everything with his phone, raised a thumbs-up.

“I don’t know if your goal was to keep me warm in some way but it didn’t work,” Tsukishima glanced at Kuroo while trying to keep his teeth from chattering too much.

“I-It was worth a sh-shot, right?” Kuroo grinned cheekily at him. Akaashi approached them with towels in their arms.

“Well, now you guys are very wet Stephen King novel characters,” they said, handing a towel to each of them. “Kenma-san has a pretty good shower, if that’s any comfort.”

“Dibs first,” Tsukishima said, wrapping the towel around himself, not caring if it was getting partially stained by what fake blood was left on his tuxedo.

“Or we could, recreate that iconic scene from the Shining,” Kuroo held up his fake axe.

“I’ve had enough horror movies for now,” Tsukishima deadpanned.

“You’re my boyfriend, you’ll never lack horror movies,” Kuroo wagged a finger at him. Tsukishima let himself lag behind a bit as their friends headed back into the house. From outside, he could tell that Bokuto had started playing something on a Bluetooth speaker and everyone was dancing in their own weird way. Yamaguchi spun Yachi around. Hinata and Kageyama were doing some weird movement involving Naruto-running in place and jumping from time to time. Bokuto was shaking his entire body. Akaashi was swaying slightly to a beat. Even Kenma was tapping his foot. Tsukishima would never say it out loud but he was glad he got to know these dorks.

“Hey, wanna watch something when we get home?” he asked.

“Sure! I have a couple of movies lined up that I have to review—”

“I was thinking something old, something classic.”

“Classic as in, 80’s horror movie, or classic as in ‘awww doesn’t this remind you of when we still weren’t dating yet?’” Kuroo asked.

“Why not both?” Tsukishima smirked. Kuroo picked up instantly on what he was thinking of.

“Sharknado?”

“Sharknado.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so so much for making it to the end. if you'd like more of my writing, check out my tumblr [@dinosaurtsukki](https://dinosaurtsukki.tumblr.com/) for updates on new writing. my bokuaka angst fic is also ending today so check that out if you're up for angst and a much shorter fanfic :)

**Author's Note:**

> hurray for making it to the end of the first chapter !! i'm still not sure if its long only because i'm kind of establishing the story or because i just tend to write a lot. anyway, i hope you guys don't mind the length and continue to read this! i plan to upload at least once a week so stay tuned for more :)
> 
> also, the flat earth page intro in the beginning was taken from the Flat Earth Society page on Facebook. Click [here](https://www.facebook.com/pg/FlatEarthStationary/about/?ref=page_internal) if you actually want to check it out


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